Come on. Admit it. You're a Lions fan and you are starting to say to yourself, "Why not the Lions?"
In the past, you wouldn't allow yourself to dream, imagine what it would be like if the Lions actually won a Super Bowl. Heck, you wouldn't even want to envision what the parade down Woodward Avenue would look and feel like.
After all, the Lions are the Chicago Cubs of the NFL.
The idea of going to championship - let alone actually winning it - was nothing more than a pipedream.
Until maybe, this weekend.
The Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS on Saturday night, sending them to the World Series for the first time since 1945. That's 71 years ago.
The scene in Chicago via TV gave any true sports fans goose bumps. It was a moment suitable for framing.
The Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908, 108 years ago. Back then, women didn't even have the right to vote.
Then on Sunday, at Ford Field, it appeared to be Same Ole Lions. The Lions gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns to Washington. It appeared another loss in a big situation was all but a done deal.
Instead, QB Matthew Stafford led the Lions to a last-minute TD to win game, 20-17. The Lions (4-3) have won three in a row and saved their season.
It was the kind of 48 hours that would allow you to dream again, to believe that anything is possible in sports.
It's actually why people care and are so emotionally invested. We don't know what's going to happen. It's why we watch.
Unless you were the Lions or the Cubs.
In decades gone by, it was a safe bet that the Lions weren't going to the Super Bowl. It didn't matter who the quarterback was, the coach or even the general manager of the team.
After all, the Lions have won just one playoff game since 1957, an incredible feat in a league built on parity. Want proof?
Heck, the New Orleans Saints won a Super Bowl. They used to be called the 'Aints and their fans once wore paper bags over their heads.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who started 0-26 before winning a game in the NFL, was a terrible franchise for a long time and the butt of jokes. They won a Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season.
And even the Arizona Cardinals went to a Super Bowl and almost won, losing in the final minutes. They were laughingstocks, dating back to when the team was in St. Louis.
There are only four teams that have not made it to the Super Bowl. Three are expansion teams - Cleveland, Houston and Jacksonville. The other team? The Lions.
In 2008, when the Lions went 0-16 and took over the title of the least-winning team in NFL history from the Bucs,
Lions fans probably thought their chances of seeing their team win a championship in their lifetime were over.
The same was probably said in Chicago. Despite all the good young players assembled, the Cubs lost 101 games in 2012. Things, indeed, looked bleak for a title.
That same thing could have been said about the Cleveland Indians, who went just 68-94 four years ago. They were, indeed, going nowhere fast.
Now, the Indians will host Game 1 of the World Series Tuesday night in Cleveland. The Indians are looking for their first World Series title since 1948.
And if that's not enough to give Lions fans hope and inspiration. On Tuesday, the Cleveland Cavs open the season and raise their championship banner - their first ever and the city's first title since 1964, ending a 52-year championship drought.
Two years ago when the Golden State Warriors won the NBA Championship, it ended a 40-year title drought for that franchise.
You get the picture. These long-standing droughts are coming down all over sports. In less than two weeks, the Cubs - better known as the lovable losers - could be champs.
After that, it won't be impossible to believe that the Lions time has come and they are next. That they will finally deliver what their fans have been dying for - a championship to call their own.
Go ahead Detroit, dream.
