Sports

Yashinsky: Lions' 11 Wins -- Real or Just Fool's Gold?

December 22, 2014, 1:05 PM by  Joey Yashinsky

According to their record, the Detroit Lions have had a very good 2014.  Eleven wins against just four losses. Simply put, it's one of the best seasons in franchise history.

But how much of it is fool's gold? Is this team fantastic, or merely overly fortunate? And really, does it even matter?

The answer is no. A win is a win, and there have been a lot of them in 2014. If you're a lifelong fan of this frustrating franchise, when the W's pile up like this, it'd be foolish to find reasons to gripe.

But it doesn't mean there should be any sense of full satisfaction with a mere one-and-done playoff performance, either. The Lions have been a different team over the last four months. All the games they had found a way to drop in the last umpteen years have been flipped, transformed into thrilling, last-minute triumphs.

And with that, expectations change.

Can They Beat Green Bay?

Of course, the task at hand is an enormous one -- winning in Green Bay, something the Lions have not done since 1991. But it's not unwinnable.

The Packers have been unimpressive the last two weeks. The Lions defense has come to play, with vengeance, in basically every game this year that did not involve Tom Brady.

If this is going to be a season for the ages, one in which the Lions don't just qualify, but advance in the NFC playoffs, a win must be had this Sunday.

Improbable? Yes. Very much so.

Impossible? No.

Who would have imagined a scenario in which the Lions sat home during the first weekend of the playoffs not because they failed to qualify for them, but instead because they were simply too dominant to be bothered with such frivolous affairs against inferior competition?

This game in Green Bay essentially begins Detroit's playoff journey. As a wild card entrant, forced to win road game after road game, the postseason stay will assuredly be a short one.

But find some way to pull off a shocker this weekend in the frigid hell that is Lambeau Field -- a win this city has been waiting almost a quarter of a century for -- and all of a sudden, talks of a Super Bowl appearance are neither farfetched nor fantastical.

They are necessary. And real.

The Lions have changed their ways this fall and winter. The losses have become wins. Games that previously brought heartbreak at the final horn now bring sheer jubilation.

But one giant hurdle remains, and it will likely decide this season's ultimate fate. The NFL will officially state that its playoff tournament begins in two weeks.

We know better. It starts on Sunday, at 4:25 pm, in a city that has been unconquerable for the last 23 years.

We'll be watching. And hoping.

And for the first time in a very long time, maybe even expecting a potentially franchise-changing Detroit Lions victory.



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