3. Lions vs. Chiefs: Admit it, you want to see what kinds of trick plays Andy Reid and Dan Campbell cook up for this one. We could see everything from the ol’ hidden-ball trick to full-scale Broadway productions in the backfield.
2. Vikings vs. Bills: Eight combined Super Bowl appearances, zero wins. Somebody’s got to end their streak of 0-4 futility here, right? Bonus: These are two talented squads, and this would be a fantastic game.
1. Lions vs. Bills: Call it the Validation Bowl, call it the Long-Suffering Bowl, call it the At-Freaking-Last Bowl. Whatever you want to call it, this is absolutely the best possible Super Bowl matchup, from both an on-field and narrative standpoint. Bring it.
8. Lions vs. Ravens: This would be a ground-game Super Bowl for the ages. Sonic & Knuckles (maybe) vs. King Henry. Who ya got?
15, Lions vs. Chargers: Look, how can you not like the matchup of the two most psychotic coaches in the NFL? A Dan Campbell-Jim Harbaugh joint press conference could be its own pay-per-view.
21. Lions vs. Broncos: Jared Goff really needs a better performance in the Super Bowl than he showed against the Patriots as a member of the Rams a few years back. Against Denver, he’d get it.
27. Lions vs. Steelers: Rust Belt Brawl! This one wouldn’t be pretty, but it’d be a battle of America’s newest sweetheart vs. America’s longtime bandwagon. Edge: the sweethearts.
39. Lions vs. Texans: A rematch of a Week 10 game, where Houston had a 23-7 lead at halftime … and then never scored again, losing 26-23. If that happened in the Super Bowl, Houstonians would tear down the Astrodome by hand.
I like #1. I’ve thought about it… the “never been” vs. the “never won” aspect. That could be a game the Lions lose and despite my devastation, there would still be a tiny piece of my heart that was like “good for them, they finally got one.”. This is more than likely a bi-product of being someone who was around for those and watched them lose every single one.
I realize they were giving quick hitting notes, but they missed some storylines.
Lions vs Broncos - I thought having Dan and AG facing Sean Payton in the Super Bowl would have a storyline that writes itself.
Lions vs Bills - This one is more obscure and is more for the die hards who were not aware. The Lions and Bills are “sister” franchises. The founder of the Bills…Ralph Wilson…was a Detroit businessman and minority owner of the Detroit Lions. As the story goes, his love of pro football came while growing up in Detroit and attending Lions games. Wanting a team of his own and not able to take over the Lions, he agreed to be the owner of a new team in Buffalo, NY that would play in the upstart AFL. A few years later Willie Ford was able to buy the majority share of the Lions, which was “too late” for Ralph Wilson…who had already moved on to the Buffalo franchise.
Ralph Wilson and Willie Ford were friends. Ralph maintained a primary residence in Gross Pointe Shores, Michigan. That is also where Willie Ford lived. In fact, both of them died in March of 2014 at their homes in Gross Point Shores, Michigan. They died roughly 2 weeks apart.
I agree. Allen had it all over Mahomes in the regular season, when it comes to the playoffs and specifically the Super Bowl, Mahomes is HIM. Reid and Mahomes are THEM.
We’d get the peak-Goff-redemption narrative - how he got to the Bowl in his 3rd year but didn’t play well (though he played better than McVay schemed) and how he’s been carrying that monkey on his back since. How the Rams traded him for a guy they thought they could win a Bowl with - and were immediately proven right. How Mahomes has never beaten Goff, but then the Bowl is where Mahomes is at his best. The best coach in the NFL vs. the wildly successful upstart. NFL Royalty vs. the Kings of Grit.