Your 2023 NFC North Champion Detroit Lions

[Motor City Sonics]

1 minute ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I remember the 12-4 season with Wayne, when they had to win their last seven.   I think the Bears were on Monday night football (were they playing the Bills?) and ABC was cutting back to the Lions watching the game at a bar (no dancers present) and when it was certain the Bears were going to lose, one of the players lit a victory cigar for Wayne,  I remember the network cutting to that.     So of course when the Bears beat the Lions in Chicago the next year, when Wayne was walking off the filed a bunch of Bears fans were lighting victory cigars in front of him as walked into the tunnel.  

oops, the game was at San Francisco and it was actually the last game of the season.   I thought maybe they had one more that season.  

[NYLion]

3 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I remember the 12-4 season with Wayne, when they had to win their last seven.   I think the Bears were on Monday night football (were they playing the Bills?) and ABC was cutting back to the Lions watching the game at a bar (no dancers present) and when it was certain the Bears were going to lose, one of the players lit a victory cigar for Wayne,  I remember the network cutting to that.     So of course when the Bears beat the Lions in Chicago the next year, when Wayne was walking off the filed a bunch of Bears fans were lighting victory cigars in front of him as walked into the tunnel.  

1991 but that came down to the last game when they won at, I believe, Buffalo. The Lions winning the division with games left in the season is a novelty for us Lions fans.

[MichiganCardinal]

1 hour ago, NYLion said:

Having a division locked up with 2 games to go is a comforting feeling that most of us have never experienced as a Lions fan, unless anybody here is like 80 years old. Kind of surreal now that it's taken time to set in.

Two weeks of stress-free December/January football where we aren't thinking about draft position?

[MichiganCardinal]

 

[Cruzer1]

Now, with the Ravens having taken care of business, the 49ers can lose either of their last two games, with the Lions winning both of theirs, leaving the Lions with the #1 seed!

[chasfh]

On 12/24/2023 at 9:44 PM, Motown Bombers said:

 

Well, I mean … 

[chasfh]

On 12/24/2023 at 7:17 PM, MichiganCardinal said:

hmm.......

CJ HATES this franchise.

[Motor City Sonics]

22 minutes ago, chasfh said:

CJ HATES this franchise.

But not as much as Mike Florio

[MichiganCardinal]

I’ve never been so happy to get a large charge alert from my bank as I was this afternoon when the Lions withdrew money my wildcard tickets.

[TP_Fan]

Anyone planning on going to the playoff game?  I see $622 as the get in price.

[MichiganCardinal]

2 minutes ago, TP_Fan said:

Anyone planning on going to the playoff game?  I see $622 as the get in price.

Cost me $186/ticket as a season ticket holder. Makes the 73% rise in prices for next season more bearable.

[Sports_Freak]

23 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Two weeks of stress-free December/January football where we aren't thinking about draft position?

No, we're thinking about playoff seeding. And I like this much better.

[Motown Bombers]

It was huge wrapping it up now. Had they lost, you then go into a tough game in Dallas and look at a winner take all at the end of the season. There's also a good chance the Rams and Seattle don't lose again and they run the risk of missing the playoffs entirely. That kind of collapse was not unrealistic.

[oblong]

12 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Cost me $186/ticket as a season ticket holder. Makes the 73% rise in prices for next season more bearable.

That seems very reasonable. Back when the tigers were competitive the ALCS tickets were in the $100 range. World Series tickets $200. That was over 10 years ago.  Those prices are concert level for top acts.  Not bad at all.  I think we paid like $150 for Pink. 

[Motown Bombers]

I got tickets to the ALCS in 2011 pretty cheap right before the game. RF bleachers. I think people were deflated since the Tigers lost the first two in Texas. 

[MichiganCardinal]

24 minutes ago, oblong said:

That seems very reasonable. Back when the tigers were competitive the ALCS tickets were in the $100 range. World Series tickets $200. That was over 10 years ago.  Those prices are concert level for top acts.  Not bad at all.  I think we paid like $150 for Pink. 

The price schedule has them charging me $186 for the wildcard, $199 for the divisional, and $239 for an NFC Championship Game. Extremely reasonable. Each of those would probably re-sell near the thousands on the second market.

[oblong]

33 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I got tickets to the ALCS in 2011 pretty cheap right before the game. RF bleachers. I think people were deflated since the Tigers lost the first two in Texas. 

I remember that. I got lucky and sold my extras for face.  After game 2 people were getting them for like $30. 

[oblong]

13 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

The price schedule has them charging me $186 for the wildcard, $199 for the divisional, and $239 for an NFC Championship Game. Extremely reasonable. Each of those would probably re-sell near the thousands on the second market.

Man if you told me I could spend $1100 right now for 2 for each game I wouldn’t hesitate.  

[Motown Bombers]

I don't think I want to face the Rams in the playoffs since the whole lead up to the game will be all about Matthew Stafford and Kelly will be all over local news channels. 

[MichiganCardinal]

35 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I don't think I want to face the Rams in the playoffs since the whole lead up to the game will be all about Matthew Stafford and Kelly will be all over local news channels. 

That game would almost certainly get slotted to Monday Night too, which I don’t love for the winner to have a short week leading to the divisional round.

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Cruzer1]

I hope the Lions won't play in the wild card round. Really, the only way to a championship is with the one seed.

[MichiganCardinal]

8 hours ago, Cruzer1 said:

I hope the Lions won't play in the wild card round. Really, the only way to a championship is with the one seed.

Last year was the first time both one-seeds made it to the Super Bowl since they introduced the new format. Before that, two four-seeds played in the Super Bowl and before that a one-seed played a five-seed and the five-seed won.

I do think that the bye is an advantage, but I definitely don't think it can't be overcome.

[Cruzer1]

1 hour ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Last year was the first time both one-seeds made it to the Super Bowl since they introduced the new format. Before that, two four-seeds played in the Super Bowl and before that a one-seed played a five-seed and the five-seed won.

I do think that the bye is an advantage, but I definitely don't think it can't be overcome.

I think there are too many teams, plus the Lions could use the week off. I want the Lions to be in the best shape possible for the run. They don't come around often.

[MichiganCardinal]

3 minutes ago, Cruzer1 said:

I think there are too many teams, plus the Lions could use the week off. I want the Lions to be in the best shape possible for the run. They don't come around often.

For sure, they should be fighting for it. If they beat Dallas, I fully expect them to go out against Minnesota and fight as if they can get the one-seed, regardless of whether they know the outcome of the 49ers-Rams game yet.

As far as health goes, knock on wood, but they're about as healthy as can be hoped for at this point in the season, so long as Sutton's toe issue isn't serious. If they get back CJGJ and Houston, they'll effectively have all 22 of their intended preseason starters available, with Moseley and Vaitai being the only real exceptions, neither of whom would be benefitted from an extra week.

The extra week would be great, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary. If they could beat the Cowboys and Eagles/Niners to reach the Super Bowl with a bye, I think it's fair to think they could beat the Rams or Seahawks, then the Eagles, then the Niners. Path A is easier, but Path B isn't impossible.