Don deal: After how many years of waiting, the Detriot Lions have finally completed the deal.

Don deal: After how many years of waiting, the Detriot Lions have finally completed the deal.

Ben Johnson was just days away from taking over as head coach of the NFL in January 2023. The league was so impressed with him after his one season as the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions that he had already completed three coaching interviews with Carolina, Houston, and Indianapolis. The native of Asheville, North Carolina, was supposed to board a plane for Charlotte in order to attend a second in-person interview with the Panthers.

For a football coach, managing an NFL team is the ultimate goal. However, Johnson turned around as soon as he realized he was standing at the door of the dream. He went back to work as the offensive coordinator for the Lions after withdrawing his name from consideration for any head coaching positions.

Johnson gave an explanation for this on the team’s podcast in February. He said all that was expected of him. He said that the Lions’ direction and momentum, as demonstrated by general manager Brad Holmes, owner Sheila Ford Hamp, and head coach Dan Campbell, were the best he had seen in his four years with the team. Then he remembered a Garth Brooks show.

In February 2020, when Johnson had only been with the Lions for a year, it took place at Ford Field. The venue was rocking, as most places are when Garth Brooks performs. Johnson remembers taking in the atmosphere while seated in the stadium. And I thought, “Holy cow.” This is how a home playoff game will unfold,” he remarked. Despite himself, Johnson grinned, his feelings rising to the surface again. “And it gave me a feeling of some kind.”

It’s audacious to say, “This is what a home playoff game is going to be like.” At the conclusion of the 1993 NFL season, on January 8, 1994, the Lions played their final home playoff game. That home playoff game drought was the longest in the league when Johnson made his way back to the Lions, eager to see a home crowd. Ford Field itself has never experienced a playoff atmosphere because of how long it lasted; the most recent Detroit playoff game was played in the Pontiac Silverdome.

A year later, Johnson’s wish came true. For the first time ever, Lions supporters will pack Ford Field for a postseason game on Sunday.

For some, the end of the drought sheds light on a football player’s life. Think about the “old guard,” as head coach Brian Campbell referred to them, when he introduced them to the team after the division-winning victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 16: special team players Tracy Walker, Romeo Okwara, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin; and offensive linemen Frank Ragnow, Graham Glasgow, and Taylor Decker.

Their years of living in the cellar have been justified by the division win. With an eight-year tenure, Decker is the lion with the longest term. This week, he told me, “I’m glad that I wanted to be a part of this.” “See it through and persevere.” Don’t give up, and take the difficult path. In that locker room, Decker broke the team down by saying, “This has been a long time coming,” while his eyes were filled with tears. And it is incredibly satisfying.