UNITED STATES—Gosh, it can be brutal trying to lift your spirts after a devastating sports loss. I cannot put into words what I felt after my Detroit Lions just got bulldozed by the Washington Commanders 45-31 last week. Making the situation worse is that they loss at home. I mean the team had one of its best records in franchise history, they only had to win 2, just TWO games on their home turf and they would have made it to the Super Bowl for the first time in the team’s history.
However, I don’t know if the BYE week as the playoffs kicked off hurt the team or the fact that they were dealing with a younger, vigorous, exciting team in the Washington Commanders that led to the defeat. The team had 5 turnovers. With those turnovers alone you can’t win a football game like that, you just can’t. I know lifelong fans of the team who were in tears. They were defeated in a way that I cannot place into words. It is like the wind was knocked out of them and they couldn’t breathe and they are still trying to grapple with the defeat.
For the first time in a very long time, I felt the pain of those diehard fans because I thought 2025 was the year, the year the Detroit Lions would win Super Bowl 59. The city of Detroit which has been beat up so badly on a national front when it comes to news and how people perceive native Detroiters and the city itself with concerns about safety from those who have NEVER BEEN HERE. Detroit is not all bad or as ‘dangerous’ as people like to believe because of what they see on TV or hear from others.
The attire, all you could see was people decked out in Lions gear and not just in the state of Michigan, but throughout the United States. I know people who were so upset by the loss they tossed out all of their Lions gear. They weren’t just mad, they were furious and then you have the finger pointing. Jared Goff was horrible, the offense made too many mistakes, what were the defense doing, what were the coaching staff doing?
Yes, there was plenty and I mean plenty of blame to go all around, but who does that actually help at the end of the day; no one. The finger pointing doesn’t matter, the entire team as a whole failed to defeat an opponent, who we know wasn’t the better team, but they may have been underestimated and as a result, the Lions learned the hard way. Saturday night was just brutal; I couldn’t sleep. Sunday was not great because the feelings of that defeat lingered, but that is what happens with any loss, you grieve, you share emotions with others and eventually the stinging loss passes, but you never forget it.
I’m NOT that super diehard fan where a sports loss can completely ruin my entire week. That just doesn’t happen to my psyche, but when it’s a big game, one that everyone is holding onto hope for, it takes all your energy out of you. Sports feels like the one thing that can bring people together regardless of your political affiliations, your socioeconomic status, your race, religion and so much more.
However, there is hope for 2026, but I honestly don’t know if the Lions can make the type of run in this coming year that they did in 2024 and early 2025. I have faith, but sports can be a finnicky thing because it does require a little bit of luck, and sometimes it works in your favor, other times not so much.
Written By Davy Jones
