After defeating the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round last week, the Detroit Lions and their supporters had to wait a long time to celebrate.
At this time of year, Tampa Bay, on the other hand, is accustomed to joining in the celebration. By virtue of hosting a postseason game for the first time in thirty years, the Lions emerged victorious in their first playoff match in thirty-two years.
For the first time in franchise history, Detroit is playing two home games in the same round of the playoffs, which increases the team’s odds of winning two postseason games in a season for the first time since winning the 1957 NFL championship.
Only the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs have won more postseason games since 2020 than the Buccaneers, who are the only NFC club in the playoffs for a fourth straight year after their victory over Philadelphia.
NFC North champion Detroit is keen to defeat NFC South champion Tampa Bay on Sunday in the divisional round in order to take a step toward maybe making it to the Super Bowl for the first time. Tampa Bay won the championship game for the second time in Super Bowl 55 with quarterback Tom Brady.
In his seventh season with the long-suffering Lions, offensive tackle Taylor Decker is just grateful that he was able to see the exhilaration of the team’s 24-23 victory over the Rams.
“The ability to see things through is one of the beautiful things about sports,” Decker remarked. “I’m just happy that I was able to take part in something unique.”
