Best Case Scenarios
Scenario #2:
Would you rather… see the Lions win the NFC North but lose their playoff game, or lose the division but win on the road in the Wild Card game?
Either of these scenarios coming to life would mean a long and dubious streak of ineptitude is finally snapped. The division title hex goes back to 1993, while the Lions haven’t won a playoff game on the road since the championship season in 1957. If we were just going by streak length, the road playoff woes would be the one to get rid of, but I’m not so sure that’s the obvious choice here.
A division championship would mean the opportunity for an experience that an entire generation of Lions fans haven’t yet had the opportunity to witness: a home playoff game. It’s also worth mentioning that the last time the Lions won a regular season division crown, the NFC North wasn’t even a thing yet.
My Answer: I’ll take the NFC North title in this case, for two reasons: (1) we’d finally be able to refer to the Lions as ‘champions’ of something. Even winning a Wild Card playoff game, you still can’t really do that. (2) I’ve never had the chance to see the Lions host a home playoff game. Win or lose, Ford Field’s first postseason action is long overdue, even more than a win on the road.
**Best of the best case scenarios:**
Would you rather… lose in the Super Bowl with Stafford this year, or win it in ten years with somebody else? (Either way, the nine years in between would be completely unknown going into it)
My Answer: If anyone deserves his share when the Lions finally get over the hump, it’s Matthew Stafford. Even getting as far as the Super Bowl would cross off so many Lions bucket list things for me that the actual result of the game would be practically irrelevant. We live in uncertain times, so if someone is saying we can get all the way there right now, I’m not waiting around for ten years for the icing on top of the icing on the cake.