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After the dust settled on Sunday the inevitable came true: the Detroit Lions will hosts Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams at Ford Field for the first round of the playoffs.

It’s a matchup made by the football gods in heaven. Matthew Stafford, drafted first overall by the Lions in 2009, played 12 seasons here, was by far the franchise’s best quarterback, but could never win the division nor a playoff game.

Enter 2021. The Lions just closed a COVID riddled season where head coach (and staple Hate You Foever tier member) Matt Patricia was fired in the midst of a 5-11 season. All the signs pointed to yet another Detroit Lions rebuild. It was from here that Stafford requested a trade, the new Detroit management (Hamp, Holmes) obliged, and Stafford was sent to LA in return for Rams QB Jared Goff and picks. Just recently, that trade came to fruition.

From here, we all know the story. Stafford goes to LA, wins the 2022 Super Bowl. Lions go 3-13-1. Goff looks terrible, the Lions are a joke again. They start the 2022 season 1-6. Shiela goes on camera and tells us all to trust the process, and Peyton Manning and Jeff Daniels bury a Lions curse…and just like that the Lions close the year 8-2, Goff puts up career numbers and the Lions finish with a winning record (9-8) missing the playoffs by one game on the final day of the season.

Enter 2023. The Lions are the resounding favorite to win the North, which they clinch by week 16, going 12-5, tying a franchise best for wins, earning them the 3 seed. The Rams, with a seemingly depleted roster from going all in on the 2021-22 season, start 2023 3-6 and appear to be an afterthought in the NFC. But after their week 10 bye, the Rams come to life, closing the season winning 7 of 8, finishing with a record of 10-7, earning them the 6 seed.

Sunday, January 14th, 2024. The Lions will host their first playoff home game since 1993. They are hoping for their first playoff home win since 1991. And they are going to have to earn it by beating a very hot Rams team and the quarterback we called QB1 for 12 years.

How should we feel? I can’t tell you personally how to feel, but I know how I feel. Would I have rather played the Packers in this game? Absolutely. Do I think the Rams propose a tough matchup with their passing game against our secondary? Absolutely. Do I think we’re the better team and should win this game? Abso-fucking-lutely.

What worries me:

• As mentioned, the Rams wideouts versus our secondary. Cupp, Puka are elite wideouts and we have proven to falter against true WR1’s this year, especially as of late.

 

• There is 0 pressure on Matthew Stafford in this game. He wins the game, he’s a hero for LA. He loses this game, we somehow love him even more in Detroit. He has fulfilled his end of the deal. He got his ring. He’s playing with house money. Sometimes in big games the teams with less to lose play better, and ultimately outplay the favored team.

 

• Rams head coach Sean McVay coached Jared Goff from 2017-2020. He knows his strengths and his weaknesses inside and out. He will scheme this game to make Jared as uncomfortable as possible.

 

• Call me crazy but I really feel like this game is just a tick below Jared Goff’s Super Bowl appearance in 2019 importance wise. He can downplay it all he wants. But at the end of the day you have a Cali kid who went to Cal then got drafted by the Los Angeles Rams #1 overall, took his home state team to the Super Bowl, then got casted aside like yesterday’s news to arguably the worst franchise in the NFL. Once here, he was told he was a bridge QB, went 3-13-1, then 1-6, before turning the entire ship around and getting us to where we are today. He didn’t bitch about anything, not once. He put his head down, went to work, invested in the city, and here we are. This is a MONUMENTAL game for Goff. This is the biggest FUCK YOU he could ever deliver to the franchise that thew him away. There is a lot of pressure in this game, but none greater than what rests on the shoulders of Detroit’s 2024 QB1. Can he handle it? We’ll know by Sunday night.

Why I’m confident:

• Our offense can hang with anyone. And while the Rams do have monster DT in Aaron Donald who is a difference maker no matter the situation, the Rams do not create a ton of pressure (ranked 29th), and we all know Detroit has arguably the best offensive line in the NFL. When Jared has time, he’s fantastic, especially against a zone defense, which the Rams run most of the time.

 

• Defensively, I’ve said the air attack scares me, but I am confident in the Lions run defense, which ranks #2 in the NFL for average rush yards allowed (88.8). While the Rams have a strong running back in Kyren Willians, and have had a lot of success on the ground during their hot streak, I feel like Detroit can slow them down and (predictably) force Stafford to the air more often than not in this game.

 

• We’re in the Den. Ford Field is build like a concrete dungeon and sound in there ricochets off the walls like a pinball caught in the bumpers. It’s going to be next level loud. Amon-Ra is asking fans to be so loud that Stafford can’t think straight, which I don’t think will be a problem. Tickets to this game are record-setting for an NFL Wild Card game. The city has wanted this and needed this for 30+ years. We as fans are more than ready to blow the doors off the place.

Prediction: I’m not going to sit here and act like I’m feeling fantastic about this game, but I do believe we’re the better team and we want it 10x more. Mix that in with being at home and I think we grind this bad boy out. Final: Lions 26, Rams 24.

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