Detroit Lions vs. Los Angeles Rams. This is one of the six first-round games in the NFL playoffs, and because the sport is known to write the craziest stories, the US football league has created a masterpiece with this schedule. This game on Sunday evening in prime time contains everything you need to know about the fascination of American football, the peculiarities of the NFL – and this season, which, precisely because of these peculiarities, delivers so many feel-good stories that they can fill entire Harry Potter volumes could.
There are a few rules in football that would be unthinkable in European football – and why some consider the vision of a Super League to be a harbinger of the apocalypse: There is no promotion or relegation; Salary caps ensure financial security and ensure that no one can buy a title team. At the talent exchange (draft), the worse teams from the previous season are allowed to be the first to draw from the pool of promising young players. One of the few ways to quickly change the squad is through trades – and there was exactly such a trade between the Lions and the Rams on January 31, 2021.
After twelve years in Detroit, Matthew Stafford, one of the most gifted quarterbacks of his generation, no longer wanted to play for this legendary losing team. The Lions are the only NFL franchise that has been in the Super Bowl era since the beginning of 1967 – and has never reached the final. So they released Stafford to the Rams – where he won the title in his first season: in the brand new stadium in Los Angeles, including a halftime show with rap legends Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and the original Detroiter Eminem. That was the story back then, the main storyline. The secondary punchline: Jared Goff had led the Rams to the Super Bowl two years before as a playmaker, but lost. And now he, whom Rams coach Sean McVay had declared unfit for the Super Bowl, had to watch in exile in Detroit as his upgrade won the title.
What a story – which, as it now turns out, was only the first book in a series.
What the Lions got for Stafford in addition to Goff: three extra voting rights at three talent exchanges during the summer break. And what they did with it is nothing short of magic. They took six players from these three picks via further trades: defender Ifeatu Melifonwu, who recently secured his first playoff appearance in seven years with an intercepted pass; the offensive players Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta, all three still at the salary level of league newcomers and still important parts of the Lions offense; as well as defensive line players Brodric Martin and Josh Paschal, who are being developed into regular players.
Plus, of course, Goff, who became only the second Lions quarterback in history to gain more than 4,500 yards and pass 30 touchdowns this season. “It’s a crazy story,” Goff said on Sunday after the 30:20 win against the Minnesota Vikings: “There’s a lot of talk about it, but when you win the game, it’s all about football. And we know how good we are are.”
The promise of the NFL: You just have to endure a few years of reconstruction and then anything is possible
The Lions provide a perfect example of why Americans consider this league structure to be more sustainable and fan-friendly than the capitalist-oligarchic one in European football: In the medium term, every club should have a chance at the title and bring joy to their hometown. And of course: the longer the dry spell, the greater the hero story afterwards.
The big promise of the NFL is that you just have to accept the unsuccessful years of reconstruction – although it should be noted that the Lions have only been trying to build something since the arrival of manager Brad Holmes. Before that they were just terrible with no hope of improvement. Holmes arrived in 2020 from the, no joke, Los Angeles Rams. He brought in former Lions player Dan Campbell as coach, who is immortalized in the hearts of fans with his courageous decisions during games and emotions afterwards. Campbell sometimes cries at press conferences.
A bit of Harry Potter, a bit of a Disney teenager: Mike McDaniel, head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
(Photo: Rebecca Blackwell/AP)
The Lions are also writing the feel-good story of the NFL season – together with the Miami Dolphins, where coach Mike McDaniel comes across like a 13-year-old fan in a Disney film who becomes a football coach overnight. The Dolphins have been waiting for the title for 50 years, and on Sunday they played against the Buffalo Bills: The third story with potential for tears, because the Bills have never won the Super Bowl, but lost four finals in a row in the 1990s. The game ended 21:14 for the Bills, who have home advantage against the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday. The Dolphins have to face defending champion Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday.
The problem with feel-good stories in sports, in contrast to fictional ones like Harry Potter, is that there is no guarantee of a happy ending, and the Lions have not asked themselves in recent decades whether if They’re going to mess it up somehow – but just: in what a heartbreaking way, usually leading in the last move of a game. At the start of the playoffs, all experts now agree that you shouldn’t look at the teams’ balance sheets, but only at their current form. And that’s why you don’t want to play against one team in the first round of the playoffs: And that’s the Los Angeles Rams.