Oh what a year 2023 was, if we put perspective on this past year, do we realize we will never see anything like 2023 again?
It was history in the making for both the Detroit Lions and the NFL.
I’m not saying 2024 will not be a better W-L year, heck I expect a strong superbowl run moving forward, I hope we are in it TY. But, it cannot compare to 2023.
Only in 2023 have we gone over 30 years since winning a PO game, over 50 years since we won 2.
What made 2023 SO darn special? A large part of it was expectations. Sure when the season kicked off, we all hoped to win the division and maybe a PO game. But as the year started out, we beat the defending SB champs, put the NFL and our fan base on notice. Only we go home and lose to the damn Hawks! More than a few fans threw out the SOL words as usual.
Then we win 4 in a row and are 5-1! We fans are excited and start dreaming of Division titles and playoffs, only a week later we get our tails handed to us by the Ravens in an embarrassing loss.
Fast forward, we overcame this and won the Division and a couple PO games.
Why can 2023 never be duplicated? Because we are now a winning organization, expectations are PO’s and SB’s.
From this point forward, in our lifetimes we never go 30+ years of never winning another PO game, let alone 50+ without winning 2.
We have expectations of winning division titles and PO games.
The excitement will never be matched in the State of MI like it did in 2023. Think of the random chants at Piston games, Griffin games, bus rides, and you name it, "let’s go Lions!" the State was fired up for the Lions and PO football.
The TV ratings were thru the roof, fans from other teams were pulling for the Lions, non football fans were jumping on the lion band wagon. We even had other fans join our Den room pulling for us!
Moving forward, we very well may have a 5-10 year run, maybe even win a SB or 2. I’m counting on it, are you listening Brad/Dan. 
We are a team to be reckoned with moving forward, we will win division titles, we will win PO games, but the excitement that was 2023 will never be duplicated. A superbowl win in our future is a dream we all desire. Will it be exciting, of course. But the young cubs that grew to be a team that moves onto great things happened in 2023, we lived through it and enjoyed the best season I have witnessed in over 55 years of Lion fandom.
2023!! The year SOL died! The year we no longer have the curse of Bobby Layne upon us. The year we no longer viewed the draft as our SB. Denmates, we made history by seasons end, I hope you never forget the year of 2023. More importantly, never forget the previous 30 years leading up to it.
Checkmate Out.
I am finding myself to be in a weird spot right now.
I am usually looking forward to the draft as soon as the regular season ends.
This year we even HOST the draft.
It seems like that should be the MOST amazing thing in mind right now.
And yet…. it doesn’t seem to matter as
much this year.
I am sure that will change in the next few months…
maybe even weeks… but it just feels so different after playing meaningful games in January!!!
Let’s hope we get to see our Lions play in February with this group!
For one, I need to get to the other side of the Super Bowl.
The draft season then goes quickly until April at which point, at least for me, the last few weeks slow to a crawl. It’s that waiting phase that tends to ratchet up my excitement.
OUTSTANDING POST, the best I have seen here in years , and yes why hang our heads, why doubt? we lost that SB game by three damn points !! you know what three points are in the NFof L??? so easy to get it’s almost as strong as a p_$$y fart. !! We are The mighty Lions and gone are the days of suck !
Great post and totally agree. Watching something blossom may be even more fun than seeing the final product.
I cannot get over how well we travelled. We damn near took over a few games - LAC, Tampa come to mind. I hope we can keep that up.
I was only disappointed for a few days last week. I am just enjoying this journey and its got a few more years to go before we reset. Even better times ahead and i cannot wait.
Are you referring to the Lions or the Rangers???.. 
Rack ‘em!
I definitely realize it. Even winning the Super Bowl in a future year wouldn’t be the same. That isn’t to say a Super Bowl would be “less.” It just means the 2023 season can never be recreated. Just like the 2011 season can never be recreated. But i put the 2023 season above the 2011 season.
It’s all boring to me now, to be honest. I hear talk about the Pistons, the Red Wings, etc since their seasons are still ongoing, and I couldn’t give less of a shit. All football in my brain, it needs to be September.
This year, as @checkmate260 said, was insane. I will never forget it, and it’s already bled over to the 2024 season.
If we have back to back NFCC seasons wow….
Anything can happen except Christ coming back…. We need to win the SB first please!!! 
I wonder how many Lions fans would have preferred losing the SB this year vs losing in the NFCC game? If Goff is truly our QB for the next number of years, I don’t want him being labeled as a 2 time SB losing QB. Let’s run it back and when we are ready, make it to the top of the mountain!
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