The Detroit Lions have been incredible losers for years, but that description no longer fits their home city’s favorite team.

The Lions had not won a playoff game since the 1991 season and have not won an NFL championship since 1957, but they have advanced to the divisional playoff round because they came through on offense and defense when the game was on the line.

They sent the Los Angeles Rams home by the slimmest of margins, recording a 24-23 victory that had the finger prints of head coach Dan Campbell all over it.

The Lions were hanging on by their finger tips in the final minutes of the 4th quarter and the Rams were driving for the go-ahead points. Matthew Stafford’s pass on 3rd-and-4 from the Detroit 34 fell incomplete, but the Rams were called for holding pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson. Campbell decided to push the Rams back to keep them from attempting a go-ahead 51-yard field goal.

Stafford had another opportunity on 3rd-and-14 from the 44 and he threw to ace rookie receiver Puka Nacua. Unheralded defensive end John Cominsky applied the pressure on Stafford and defensive back Cameron Sutton delivered the coverage and the pass fell incomplete.

The Rams, who had just one time out left, were forced to punt. The Lions got the ball back with just over four minutes remaining, and the timeout situation meant that the Lions could run out the clock if they get two first downs.

That’s just what happened as Jared Goff passed 11 yards to David Montgomery for one first down and then followed with another 11-yard pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown on the first play after the two-minute warning.

Goff, a former Ram, who had been traded along with several draft picks to the Lions for Stafford, came through in the game’s most important moments. St. Brown explained that the play that clinched the game was a basic play for the Lions, but Goff’s execution was special.

“It’s a route that we’ve been running for two years,” St. Brown said on the NBC postgame interview.. “We’re pretty good at it and we could do it in our sleep. I knew they were coming at me for the win and Jared threw a great ball and we sealed it.”

All that was left to do was for the Lions to go into the victory formation. The Lions have survived and advanced in the NFL playoffs for the first time since January 5, 1992, when they defeated the Dallas Cowboys 38-6.

The overjoyed Lions get to play their next playoff game at home once again. They will face the winner of Monday night’s Wild Card game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers January 21 at Ford Field.

Hutchinson, a Plymouth, Michigan native who grew up rooting for the Lions and played his college football at the University of Michigan. “Going into this game, I was playing for two things. I was playing for my teammates and playing for the city. This city has been so deserving of this for so long and we’re going to keep it up. They’ve been through a lot of years of bad football, and I think this is just the start of something for a very long time.”

Campbell has been a risk taker since he was named Detroit’s head coach prior to the 2021 season. He has no fears going for it on fourth-down plays, and he had no issue pushing the Rams back and giving them another chance on third down even though it could have cost his team the game.

The same holds with the pass plays he called on the final possession. Other coaches would have chosen to run the ball and keep the clock moving, but Campbell’s courage under fire allowed this team with a very sad history to win a game they had to have.

The Lions have never been to a Super Bowl and have only been to one NFC championship game in the Super Bowl era.

One more home win, and they will be a step closer to giving their long-suffering fans a chance to wrap their arms around that possibility.