Where were you 10 years ago today? Sept. 27, 2009, was an important date in Detroit Lions history.
I was at the Brann’s restaurant in Holland, watching a hotshot rookie QB named Matthew Stafford pick up his first career victory and help the Detroit Lions end the ignominy of an epic losing streak.
It was the day the darkness finally ended. The Lions beat the Washington Redskins 19-14. It was the team’s first win since Dec. 23, 2007, the longest calendar gap in modern NFL history between victories (it beats the 2016-2018 Browns by exactly nine days).
Reflecting back on that day, my friend and I had an overwhelming sense of relief at the streak being over. It was the first step forward in a long time. We knew the Redskins weren’t very good — they would finish 4-12. We knew the Lions had looked respectable in the Week 2 loss to Brett Favre’s Vikings the prior Sunday, and this Stafford kid wasn’t afraid.
Stafford is one of two Lions left from that 2009 team, along with long snapper Don Muhlbach. In fact, no other Lions players active that day are even in the NFL anymore. Bryant Johnson caught the first touchdown pass. Maurice Morris scored the second TD on a day when Kevin Smith topped 100 yards on the ground. Ko Simpson picked off Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell, and Detroit’s lone sack came from Jason Hunter. For some reason, actor Tom Cruise was on the sideline.
Nobody, not even brash rookie head coach Jim Schwartz, was proclaiming the Lions as some new and rising power. The sentiment of the day, at least at the bar at Brann’s and on sports radio the next day, was one of relief. It was over. Finally, a win!
The Lions have come a long way since. Is it as far as we’d like them to go? Of course not, but it’s important to remember just how bad it really was when we complain about the currently unbeaten Lions of 2019.
