There were three NFL playoff games this weekend and one exorcism. Officially, the Detroit Lions beat only the Los Angeles Rams, but everybody at Ford Field knew better. They beat Matthew Stafford and the Lomas Brown guarantee and breaking news from The Wichita Eagle and the Big Buck and Marty Mornhinweg leaving practice on a Harley-Davidson, and Lions fans know what every one of these things means, and they know we could go on. Oh, man, we could go on. But we won’t because none of it matters, not anymore.
The New England Patriots are starting over, the Pittsburgh Steelers have no quarterback, the Dallas Cowboys are a perennial playoff disaster, the New York Giants need to rebuild and the Detroit Lions just won a playoff game in the most astounding way possible: predictably. They made more plays in high-leverage situations. They kept their poise. They played with energy and intelligence. Their coach matched strategic wits with a brilliant Super Bowl winner on the other sideline. They did all this because this is what they do now. They started the season with their highest expectations in years and exceeded them. The Lions.
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