Detroit Lions, fans provide blueprint for 2020 uncertainty

Detroit wrap-up

As Detroit Lions’ fans, we have known far too many bad years, apparent curses, and heartbreaking new ways to lose. Recent sports history has been brutal to our loyalties. We have no control over players, referees, coaches, and the whims of owners or pandemics.

What we do know is that being from Detroit is an experience in getting through heartbreaks and tough times with little to keep us going but each other. Detroiters, and Lions fans by extension, persevere because we aren’t given a chance by outsiders, who choose to ridicule us and root for our circumstances to overtake us. For us, sport imitates life.

It’s true that the Detroit Lions haven’t given us much to cheer about, no titles since the Eisenhower Administration and no playoff wins since George Herbert Walker Bush was in office. We have to hope that our team will eventually profit from our resilient, hard-working example.

While sports take a back seat to the health and safety of our loved ones, we still long to hoist a trophy to give the one-finger salute to our doubters and symbolically validate that our sacrifices have produced a hard-fought victory. If our team behaves as Detroiters have, the uncertainty, the doubters, and the pressure to perform will bring them together as we always have.

Detroit is ready for whatever outcome we are faced with both on and off the football field. Players, coaches, and front office take notes; Detroit and its fans have already shown you what a comeback takes.