Every Detroit Lions gameday this year, a few hours before kickoff, I wrote up a “last minute thoughts and final score prediction” article here. It was a final game preview but also a way to get myself ready for the Lions playing that day.
Alas, the Lions magnificent run ended a game too early for me to write one for the Super Bowl. And while I’m largely over the NFC Championship loss, I couldn’t help but get antsy throughout this Sunday morning.
The Lions were almost in this Super Bowl. They were a mere half away. It was a stunning loss in San Francisco, and the smoke of “close but no cigar” still hangs in the haze for not just me, but for many Lions fans around the world.
As the rest of the football nation gears up for tonight’s game between the Chiefs and 49ers, I just can’t drum up much enthusiasm. I actually think it’s a pretty compelling matchup and should be a competitive game. I get why so many people seem so excited about it.
But I just can’t get there. The sting of the Lions finally coming to the doorstep of appearing in the Super Bowl, only to have the door slammed in our faces by the 49ers, well — it makes getting into tonight’s game a real chore for me. It’s not bitterness at the Niners, either; they were the better team two Sundays ago and earned the NFC Championship. I begrudge them nothing.
The Super Bowl is being played in a few hours and I just can’t summon the energy to care who wins. I’m somewhere between apathy and agony over my team just missing out on playing in the big game.
I’ll watch, of course. I’ll likely be quite entertained by it too. But for the first time in my 50-plus years on earth, I’ll be watching the championship awarded after a game my Lions could legitimately have been playing in. I hope the Lions feel it, too. Next year in New Orleans, hopefully, I’ll be writing a final game score and last-minute thoughts about Detroit playing on this night.