Super Bowl-contending Lions lifting the spirits of fans who endured much misery in the Motor City

DETROIT, MI – November 19, 2023: Robert “Lion Eyes” Gonzales celebrates winning the title of 2023 Detroit Lions “Fan of the Year” during a timeout during an NFL football game between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears at Ford Field on November 19, 2023

FRENCHTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich-Rob “Lion Eyes” Gonzales was standing in his basement on a section of the turf from Pontiac Silverdome, wearing his trademark blue-framed sunglasses that block his vision with leaping lions on silver lenses.

“That was a good thing for years,” he said in jest on Thursday.

The Detroit Lions are no longer a source of amusement.

For the first time in their 90-year history, the Lions, who have been among the NFL’s weakest teams, are the favorites to win the Super Bowl, and their devoted supporters are giddy with anticipation.

On Saturday night at Ford Field, Detroit will play the Washington Commanders in the first game of what may be a run for the team’s first league championship since 1957.

It is the NFL’s and Motown’s sexiest ticket.

According to Vivid Seats, the average ticket price is $836, which is roughly three times more expensive than what it would cost to attend games in Kansas City and Buffalo and more than $300 more than tickets in Philadelphia.

According to the secondary-market ticketing site, the average price of tickets sold at just two games since 2010—aside from the Super Bowl.

According to Ann Arbor STEAM assistant principal Brittany Sayles, she might be able to sell her two $400 tickets for $1,500 apiece.

“I remember some games when I couldn’t go, I couldn’t even give tickets away,” the 39-year-old Detroit season ticket holder said. “Now, everyone is asking for tickets.”

Sayles has already given out tickets to her school’s employees, but if the Lions avoid an upset against Washington, she won’t miss the divisional round or the first NFC championship game in Detroit.

“This may not come again in this lifetime,” she stated.

Many supporters never imagined that the most popular team would be in such a state of sports mania.

After a four-year stint in Ohio as the Portsmouth Spartans, the Lions made their NFL debut in 1934. They were a dominant force in the 1950s, winning three titles in a six-year span.

Prior to last year’s breakthrough, the team had only one playoff victory since its most recent NFL championship in 1957.

Before blowing a 17-point, third-quarter lead against San Francisco in the NFC championship game to be among the four teams without a Super Bowl participation, Detroit won two playoff games in a single year for the first time since its last league title.

The Lions lived up to their exceptionally high expectations at the beginning of the season.

Their high-scoring, trick-play-heavy offense and charismatic coach Dan Campbell, who famously declared during his first press conference four years ago that his players would bite opponents’ kneecaps, have even helped them become a popular team among those without local ties.

Kerby Joseph, an All-Pro safety, told The Associated Press, “I guess we’re America’s favorites, but the (Dallas) Cowboys are America’s team.” “Love and support are abundant. I’ve been a fan since 1933 or so, and I get approached by fans. They never stopped believing in us.

“It means everything to give back to this team, this organization and to the city.”

The team’s comeback has paralleled that of Motor City.

After declaring bankruptcy in 2013, Detroit, which was once one of the most populous and influential cities in the country, has been working on a recovery.

“This city was in ruins 10, 15 years ago,” Gonzales stated. “The city s coming back, and our team is coming back.”

The biggest construction project the city has seen in almost 50 years is underway in the center of downtown, where the NFL draft attracted record crowds last April. Progress is being made on a 685-foot skyscraper that will house General Motors and feature 1.5 million square feet of retail, office, eating, hotel, and residential space.

Renovations at the long-abandoned Michigan Central Station turned the 113-year-old, 18-story rail terminal from an eyesore into a source of pride.

In a once-maligned city that has altered the discourse with its fewest homicides since 1966, new hotels, upscale and fashionable restaurants, and clubs are regularly opening.

According to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, the Lions have been instrumental in uplifting the supporters’ spirits and demonstrating to the world what an NFL team and a community can do under the right leadership.

“I think what the Lions have already done for the city is remarkable,” Duggan stated. “I’m one of those crazy fans who, in addition to watching the game on TV for the commentary, rewatches it the following day.

“The shots of Detroit going across the country are spectacular.”

The view from Gonzales’ basement is also rather striking.

Gonzales took advantage of the fact that everything in the domed stadium was up for sale after the Lions left the Pontiac Silverdome after the 2001 season.

Gonzales, who resides around 30 miles south of Detroit, loaded a 10-yard section of turf onto a 17-foot moving truck. This included his two seats and three additional chairs, light fixtures, ceiling titles, and the 10-yard line that had stains he believes were possibly player blood.

“You could not have put another screw in that truck,” the 2023 Detroit Lions Fan of the Year stated.

Along with framed pictures, autographs, bobbleheads, footballs, trinkets, and much more, the retired steel plant supervisor has autographed Lions jerseys on one wall, including those of No. 20s Barry Sanders, Billy Sims, and Lem Barney.

He said, “Being a Lions fan is not easy – it’s been hard,” while sporting a replica 1957 championship ring, a Lions shirt, a cap, and slippers. “Although some awful things have happened and some awful years have passed, we are moving past it.

We have a historic team presently. We have never seen a team like this one.”