Something historic happened on Sunday night.
And not just historic in the sense of something that will be documented for years to come. No, historic in the sense of something that people will remember for the rest of their lives.
Historic in the sense of something an entire city, an entire state rallies around.
Historic to the point that 10, 20, 30 years from now, people will ask, “Where were you when…?”
The storylines wrote themselves. Jared Goff versus Matthew Stafford. Two former No. 1 overall picks — Goff by the Rams in 2016 and Stafford by the Lions in 2009 — squaring off in the first round of the NFL Playoffs.
But what made Sunday night’s matchup between the Rams and Lions so magnificent — must-see TV, if you will — is that neither Goff nor Stafford were playing for the team that originally drafted them.
Three years ago, when Stafford was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for Goff and a slew of draft picks, no one could have written a better three-year script than the one that concluded in front of over 66,000 fans at Ford Field on Sunday night.
Stafford, after years of heartache and frustration in Detroit, won a Super Bowl in his first season with the Rams. Meanwhile, Goff and the Lions limped their way through a 3-13-1 season.
To a short-sighted onlooker, it appeared the Rams won the trade by a significant margin.
But Detroit continued to slowly build by stockpiling solid draft picks, and it led to a moment in which the NFC North champion Detroit Lions, led by Goff, the former Ram, hosted Los Angeles, led by Stafford, the former Lion.
Stafford had already achieved his goal of winning a Super Bowl ring, but Goff and the Lions were hungry and on the rise. And on Sunday night, in front of 66,000 along with the entire football world watching from home, the Lions proved to be the hungrier, more determined team as they won their first playoff game in 32 years.
As Goff and the Lions kneeled out the final seconds of the game, and as NBC toggled from long-time season ticket holders to crying fans, there was a sense of something being lifted.
A curse, maybe, if you believe in such a thing in sports — which, after decades of misery, it wouldn’t surprise me if some Lions fans did.
But it seemed more than just a curse that was lifted.
In some ways, it was the vanquishment of a hopeless generation of football. It was the beginning of something new.
For Lions fans age 31 and younger, this was the first time they were alive to witness a playoff win for their hometown team. And in all reality, it was likely the first memory anyone under the age of 40 has of their team winning a postseason game.
And next Sunday, exactly one week after hosting its first Playoff game in more than 30 years, Detroit will take on either the Philadelphia Eagles or Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home in what will be a chance for young fans to make a second lifelong memory.