A Detroit Lions Fan's Guide To the 2011 NFL Playoffs: Whom To Root For?
If you're a hardcore Detroit Lions fan, it's the most depressing time of the year.
The NFL Playoffs. The time of year when good teams keep playing and bad teams go home.
In other words, it's the time of year when we Lions fans have to pick a surrogate team to root for, since ours isn't there anymore.
But fear not! I can help if you haven't already picked your allegiances. Here is a team-by-team analysis of everyone left standing in the playoffs, and why you might like or hate them.
Of course, if you already have your secondary team, go for your secondary team. I'm not trying to change anybody's minds, here, I'm just trying to help if you want some investment into the NFL playoffs.
Seattle Seahawks
1 of 8
There are plenty of reasons to like the Seattle Seahawks if you're a Lions fan.
First and foremost, they're a 7-9 team that appears poised to wreak havoc in the playoffs, and that's encouraging considering how the Lions finished 6-10.
Lions fans should always appreciate the underdog story, because pretty soon, that's going to be the Lions themselves.
But beyond that, let's also pay our dues to the organization that has given us so much in the past couple of years.
Nate Burleson: UFA from Seattle, signed by Detroit. Sometimes quiet, but provided a legitimate No. 2 receiver, finished with 55 receptions for 625 yards and six touchdowns in 14 games played.
Rob Sims: Traded to Detroit for fifth-round draft pick, started 16 games and helped himself and Jeff Backus to career years.
Lawrence Jackson: Cut by Seattle, signed off waivers by Detroit. Former first-round pick notched six sacks in limited playing time over 11 games, and is only 25 years old.
Julian Peterson: About to be cut by the Lions, but provided a steady presence for two years at strong side linebacker, which isn't bad when you consider they got him for Cory Redding.
But then there's the bad news. If you're a football purist, you're probably a little upset that Seattle is in the playoffs, given their record.
Nobody likes Pete Carroll, not even the folks he bailed on in Southern California.
And if you're still sour that the Lions took Matthew Stafford instead of Aaron Curry a couple years back, it probably stings a little that Curry made the playoffs first.
But hey, it was either him, or both Sam Bradford and Jason Smith.
Baltimore Ravens
2 of 8
And here's the Harbaugh connection.
The name Harbaugh has come up many times in the last few weeks, but it was neither about the Detroit Lions nor this Harbaugh.
Instead, it was all about Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, and whether he would come be the new coach at the University of Michigan.
The answer turned out to be "no thanks" for the former Michigan assistant, and he instead signed on to coach the San Francisco 49ers.
Here in Baltimore, we have that man's brother, John Harbaugh, who has coached the Ravens through three very successful seasons.
Both went to Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Mich., and are the sons of one Jack Harbaugh, a former Michgan assistant under Bo Schembechler. Now, depending on whether you're a Wolverine or Spartan, that gives you reason to root for or against the team.
That being said, you probably already have your mind made up about the Ravens, being full of personalities like Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs.
Also, Cory Redding plays here now, and pay close attention to Michael Oher, the guy you all wanted instead of Brandon Pettigrew.
But I ask you, how do you root against this team after hearing a tearful Ed Reed talk in the locker room about the disappearance (and likely death) of his brother?
Choking back sobs, Reed kept his team focused after the Ravens' win over Kansas City by telling his team, "He'd want us to beat Pittsburgh."
Turning personal tragedy into team motivation is what real leadership is all about. Maybe that's not enough to turn you into a Ravens fan, but let's at least keep the man's family in our hearts.
Green Bay Packers
3 of 8
Personally, the Packers have a soft spot in my heart for proving me right about Michael Vick.
As MVP talk began to swell, I was the only one telling people that while he was a regular-season stat machine, he would be one-and-done in the playoffs, because his actual quarterback skills are still unpolished.
But anyway, what can I really tell you about the Green Bay Packers? If you're a Lions fan, you're predisposed to hating the Pack. It's likely that nothing I say will change that, and maybe that's for the best.
But hear me out. The Packers are the first playoff team the Lions have beaten in the regular season since 2007. The better the Packers do, the better the Lions look for beating them.
I know everybody says that was only because Aaron Rodgers was hurt, but Rodgers left at halftime with a 0-0 tie. Matt Flynn was actually responsible for the Packers' only three points of the game.
Which brings me to Rodgers himself. I don't know where you all fall on the whole Brett Favre thing, but if you disliked him like the Lions nemesis that he was, then you have to admit that the Packers look like rock stars right now for cutting ties with him when they did.
Though he had a very good year in 2009, the fact remains that the last two head coaches he's played for have lost their jobs.
Meanwhile, Mike McCarthy and the Packers are flying high, and Aaron Rodgers has almost undoubtedly been the better quarterback of the two since Favre left Green Bay.
Especially considering how Favre and the Vikings flopped this year, Green Bay can pretty much "win the breakup" by making a deep playoff run this year.
So there's that, if you care about that. If you don't, and you just want the Packers to lose because they're the Packers, then so be it. I won't argue with you there.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
New York Jets
4 of 8
A lot of people became polarized on whether to like the New York Jets by watching them on Hard Knocks during training camp.
I'm not one of them, though in my book, the Jets earned some points by eliminating the Indianapolis Colts last week.
They lose all of those points and then some when I remember that they are a New York sports team with New York sports fans, the faces of which are Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez.
Now, I'm not going to go there about Rex Ryan, because what he does in his private life is his business, and I don't really care.
That being said, I'm sick of Rex Ryan. The Lions only fell short of beating the Jets because Matthew Stafford re-injured his shoulder late in the game, and Drew Stanton made a critical mistake throwing an incomplete pass. Yet Ryan and the Jets get to come out of it feeling all smug and self-satisfied.
Maybe that's sour grapes, but I can't deal with another week of boisterous trash talk by that bunch. Bart Scott came out of that game saying the Lions were the "dirtiest team he's ever played against" (to which Dominic Raiola responded, "Shut up and play football.")
Ryan announced the game trumpeting that a "great defense is coming into town." Mark Sanchez said the Lions "couldn't stop them."
And now the team with the biggest mouths in football comes up against their bitter rivals, the New England Patriots. Losing here would force them to shut those mouths for at least a little while.
In other news, the more Mark Sanchez's team wins in the playoffs, the more people are going to believe Sanchez himself has more than a game manager's amount to do with it.
In other words, there's still a Stafford vs. Sanchez vs. Josh Freeman competition going on in terms of who got the best quarterback in 2009, and Stafford not playing half his games isn't helping his case, especially if Sanchez makes two consecutive AFC Championship games.
Just saying.
Chicago Bears
5 of 8
If I ever meet Jay Cutler in person, I've committed myself to punching him in the face.
Among teams I hate worse than the Chicago Bears, the list stops after the Dallas Cowboys. Among players I hate worse than Jay Cutler, the list ends after I write Jay Cutler.
Add to that the possibility of Rod Marinelli and Mike Martz winning a Super Bowl together, and the "process of the catch" game in the opening week of the season, and you would think I would wish for the Bears to lose by 60 and Soldier Field to collapse upon itself.
Indeed, some part of me wants just that. But it's actually much better for the Lions if the Bears win.
See, the Chicago Bears have had lightning in a bottle all season. Then won some good games, stole some others, but when they've lost, they've looked like the worst team ever to play professional football.
They earned themselves the second seed in the NFC and a first-round bye. They appear to be a good football team.
And the more they win, the better they look. The better they look, the greater chance there is of the organization retaining head coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jerry Angelo.
See how that works out? The Bears went all out this season to pick up big-time free agents, because everybody knew that Angelo and Smith were out if they didn't produce results this season.
They gave Julius Peppers and Chester Taylor whatever they wanted, mortgaged the future to win now (which they already did by trading away the top half of two consecutive drafts for average QB Jay Cutler), and they won the NFC North at 11-5.
But Lovie Smith is still a mediocre coach, and Angelo a mediocre GM. The Bears aren't set up to win in the long-term, and Smith and Angelo are talented at neither finding nor nurturing talent, and they've been ignoring the offensive line for years.
They have lots of guys that are just barely good enough, which is why they're in the playoffs. But their only real stars aside from Peppers are Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, both of whom are linebackers and over the age of 30; and Devin Hester, who despite his considerable talents in the return game, is 28 and still only a legitimate receiving threat on a fly route.
The point here is that the Bears of 2010 are like the Minnesota Vikings of 2009. With the coach on the hot seat, they went "all in" to win now and succeeded. But they have as good a chance of going 5-11 next year as 11-5.
Brad Childress made the mistake of ignoring his quarterback position as long as he had Brett Favre, and that decision has thrown the Vikings organization down a well and cost Childress his job.
Lovie Smith has a patchwork offensive line, an inconsistent young stable of wide receivers, and an aging defense.
If the metaphor holds, the Bears will win this weekend, go to the NFC Championship game, lose there due to a boneheaded move by their mistake-prone quarterback, retain their coaches and management, fall apart next season due to the team's many flaws becoming sinkholes and the quarterback being unable to replicate his previous year's success, fire their coach mid-season, and be passed in the division by the Detroit Lions.
I can't wait.
Pittsburgh Steelers
6 of 8
I'll admit, there aren't any good Detroit-related storylines with Pittsburgh this year.
Detroit native Jerome Bettis coming to Ford Field to play Super Bowl XL in his last professional game? Great story. But that was five years ago.
Bettis is an analyst now, and aside from my inability to like Ben "Creepy Guy At the Bar" Roethlisberger and my inability to dislike head coach Mike Tomlin, I'm not sure there's much meat on this one.
Either you like the Steelers or you don't, and I'm frankly a little impartial. Unlike the Packers or Bears, the Steelers' performance in the playoffs doesn't affect the Lions, even indirectly.
Either you think Roethlisberger is an elite quarterback with outstanding pocket mobility who doesn't get enough credit, or he's a creepy date rapist.
Either you like Troy Polamalu and his amusing hair commercials, or you're irritated that he insured said hair for a million dollars.
Either you like James Harrison as one of the toughest, hardest hitters in the game today, or he's a dirty player who should have been suspended at some point this season.
I'm not going to tell you what side to take on those arguments, but I will say there's something else on the line here.
If the Steelers win it all this year, they will have won three of the last five Super Bowls, making them all but officially the new "dynasty" team.
If you like that sort of thing, maybe you go for them. The New England Patriots are the current/most recent "dynasty" team, so if you really hate the Pats, maybe you go more for the Steelers, as well.
Of course, if you like parity over dynasty, you go for the Seahawks.
Atlanta Falcons
7 of 8
The Atlanta Falcons might have the lowest success-to-respect ratio of any No. 1 seed in recent memory.
They are a good football team that does everything well. But they're not flashy, so they don't get very much attention. At least, not as much attention as you would expect a 13-3 team with homefield advantage throughout the playoffs to get.
So the best reasons to root for the Falcons are if:
A) You want to see the team earn the respect it deserves,
B) You're dead-set on seeing the Lions' NFC North rivals lose (the Falcons have the Packers this week, and with a win would have either the Bears or Seahawks next week),
C) You wouldn't mind seeing future Hall-of-Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez win a Super Bowl before he retires,
or D) You really hate Michael Vick, and want to see his former team have greater success than his current team (this is my favorite option).
Of course, if that doesn't do it for you, you could always just remember that quarterback Matt Ryan's nickname is "Matty Ice," which is almost as irritating as the people who actually drink Natty Ice.
There's also the fact that the Falcons' entire roster lacks a single player from any Michigan college. You could always just pretend that the Falcons have an anti-Michigan bias, if you needed an excuse to root against them.
Also, they're a No. 1 seed in the playoffs, so if you like upsets, you're probably hoping for anyone but the Falcons.
Though honestly, we all know that the No. 4-seeded Seahawks beating the No. 2-seeded Bears would be considerably more monumental.
New England Patriots
8 of 8
They stomped the Lions at Ford Field on Thanksgiving.
Their coach is sociable like a sea urchin is fuzzy, and still hasn't been able to shake the "cheater" tag as a result.
Their quarterback has Bieber hair, and is often more famous as an off-field celebrity than an on-field quarterback.
But I can't bring myself to dislike the New England Patriots, because the organization itself is exemplary, and I want to be them.
Call it what you want on my part, but I don't hate the New England Patriots, because they deserve the success they have. Year after year, they bring in no-name players and turn them into superstars.
Where some teams use injuries as an excuse, the Patriots use injuries as an opportunity to groom their new star running back.
The Patriots are a cold-blooded organization, whose reward for trading away cornerstones like Richard Seymour and Randy Moss at the right time is fielding their youngest and most efficient defense and passing game in years.
They make the right personnel move roughly 19 times out of 20, and you can see a microcosm of that with the way they effectively swapped Randy Moss for Deion Branch, consequently improving their passing game and moving up a round in the draft.
As for the one out of 20? They signed Paris Lenon last year.
Aside from my personal biases, Tom Brady is well-known as a Michigan alum, and certainly one of the more famous ones in the last 20 years or so, and Jim Schwartz is a branch from the Bill Belichick coaching tree, so there are your local connections.
Probably doesn't work for you if you're a Spartan fan who hates Belichick, though...
Of course, if you hate the Patriots, fine, hate the Patriots. There is certainly enough anti-New England ammunition to support that decision, and I can't in good conscience argue with it.
But bet against them at your own risk, and don't fool yourself into believing you wouldn't love for the Detroit Lions to be on the same organizational level as the Patriots in a few years' time.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
.jpg?w=600 "Post-June 1 Trade Candidates ☎️")
.JPG?w=600 "TO Talks Cowboys Relationship")
.jpg?w=600 "Taylor Heinicke Retiring")
.jpg?w=600 "49ers OC Hypes Mike Evans 🤩")