The last time the Detroit Lions won a playoff game, cell phones were as big as house bricks; Vanilla Ice was huge; “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” was the biggest movie of the year; and Barry Sanders was still the Lions’ running back.
That was 1991. Oh, and current head coach Dan Campbell was a 15-year-old.
But the Lions held off the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, 24-23, in an NFC Wild-Card game at Ford Field, ironically beating longtime Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford in the process.
And Detroit’s current quarterback, Jared Goff, the young man who came from the Rams in that trade, was an L.A. cast-off. To be fair, Stafford, coach Sean McVay and the Rams did win a Super Bowl out of the trade. But now, maybe it’s the Lions’ turn.
Goff and the Lions ended a nine-game playoff losing streak, the franchise’s last win coming in the divisional round of the 1991 playoffs in January, 1992, over Dallas and into the NFC Championship Game back then against the Washington Redskins.
Detroit (13-5) will host either Philadelphia or Tampa Bay next Sunday at 2 p.m. The Eagles play at Tampa on Monday night.
Goff completed 22-of-27 passes for 277 yards and a 2-yard touchdown to tight end Sam LaPorta, but no throw was bigger than the one he hit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown with, for 11 yards and a first down, with 1:55 left. The Rams were out of time outs, and Detroit was able to run out the clock.
Stafford went 25-of-36 for 367 yards and two touchdowns, and nine catches and 181 yards went to rookie receiver Puka Nacua. The two couldn’t connect, though, on a third-and-long attempt with just under four minutes left that might have led to a go-ahead field goal; that left the Rams in fourth-and-long at midfield, realistically out of Brett Maher’s field goal range.
The Rams punted the ball back to Detroit, then – but never got the ball back.
Aidan Hutchinson tied a Detroit playoff record with two sacks in the game.
