9102170483
DETROIT FREE PRESS
911223
Monday, December 23, 1991
METRO FINAL
1D
MITCH ALBOM
SEE ALSO METRO EDITION, Page 1D
Copyright (c) 1991, Detroit Free Press
AFTER STRANGE AND TRAGIC SEASON, IT'S TIME TO SMILE
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Well, now. That was different. Let me sum up what
happened here in the tundra:
The Lions fumbled the ball with less than three minutes left; missed a
field goal with less than one minute left; missed another field goal with 12
seconds left; lost Bennie Blades to injury, Dennis Gibson to injury, George
Jamison to injury; didn't score until the fourth quarter; converted one
third down all day; and spent much of the afternoon dodging snowballs thrown
by the fans.
And they won.
And they might win the division.
Are you getting all this?
"How many times did you think this game was history?" someone asked Toby
Caston in the jubilant Lions locker room, after they somehow beat Buffalo, the
best team in the AFC, 17-14, in a turbulent, windswept, overtime game.
"Let me put it this way," Caston said. "There was a whole lot of praying
on those sidelines. I think the big man upstairs is tired of hearing from us."
No wonder. Here is how a prayer might have gone Sunday: "Please, Lord,
may you OH MY GOD HOW DID HE DROP THAT? Amen."
Nonetheless, the Lions won, they finish with the second- best record in
the NFC, and will capture the Central Division crown if the Bears lose or tie
tonight. Unbelievable. Of course, if Sunday is how you win a division, we need
to go back and rewrite all those cliches, the ones about poise and execution
and "dancing with the one that brung ya."
Here is an actual highlight: The Lions had second-and-goal from the 1 and
failed on three straight quarterback runs, never giving the ball to the best
rusher in football, Barry Sanders.
"Did you call those plays?" someone asked quarterback Erik Kramer.
"Are you kidding me?" he said.
"Were you surprised you didn't get the ball?" someone asked Sanders.
"Well . . . hmmm . . . yeah," he said.
And they won?
Snowballs flying They won, for a club-record 12th time this season. Don't
ask me how. All I can tell you is they never gave up, no matter how weird they
looked. Kramer, who seemed to be throwing a Wiffle ball during the first four
quarters, came to life in overtime and completed five straight passes into the
wind. The defense, which allowed Buffalo its longest scoring drive in history
-- 99 yards -- tightened like a choke collar down the stretch.
And Eddie Murray, who tried a game-winning field goal from 39 yards,
missed wide left, came back four plays later (thanks to a Buffalo penalty)
and, from 30 yards, missed again, then got one more chance in overtime from 21
yards. He nailed that one.
"I told him not to worry, just aim straight down the line and hit it,"
Jim Arnold, Murray's holder, said after the game. Murray didn't bother to talk
to the press, I don't know why. Maybe he got hit by a snowball. Lord knows
enough of them were thrown by Bills fans, who must be starved for
entertainment. The referee nearly called a penalty on those people, until he
realized living in Buffalo is penalty enough.
Maybe Murray was worried about questions concerning the playoffs, the next
hurdle for this most surprising franchise. And there will be a lot of
questions. Here is Question No. 1: Will the Lions be able to field a team?
I'm not kidding. The way their guys are dropping, they'll be digging up
Bubba Baker pretty soon. Blades went out with a bad ankle, Jamison a bad foot,
Gibson a hurt knee. They join the no-can-do list of Rodney Peete, Jerry Ball,
Mike Cofer, Mike Utley and Eric Sanders. All starters. Which is why I refuse
to make a big deal of the fact that Buffalo chose not to play Jim Kelly,
Thurman Thomas or James Lofton on Sunday. Hey. At least they had the option.
Meanwhile, here is the Lions' situation: If you took all the healthy
starters, put them on one side of a teeter-totter, then put all the injured
starters on the other side, you'd pretty much have a standoff. Actually, the
injured guys would weigh more, what with Ball on their side.
"I'll tell you what, if we had to practice tomorrow we couldn't do it,"
coach Wayne Fontes said. "We'd have to go out there and stand. Just stand. No
moving around."
Winning funny
On such a note do the Lions enter the playoffs. And you know what? It
almost doesn't matter. What they have done so far is remarkable enough. They
are 12-4. Think about that. 12-4? The Lions? It can't all be done with
mirrors.
"It's been a strange year," said Chris Spielman, the emotional sponge of
this group. "I looked out on the field in one series today and it finally hit
me: Cofer ain't here. Jerry's not here. George is not here. Gibby's not here.
Bennie Blades is not here. But I'll tell you, the other guys came up and
answered the challenge."
Yeah. What are their names again?
Never mind. No time for jokes. Time to soak the feet and tune the antenna
and sit back and watch the Bears squirm for a change.
A word here about Sanders. He came into this game with a chance at the NFL
rushing title, yet despite gaining 108 yards, he was nudged by Dallas' Emmitt
Smith, who had a huge day against Atlanta. You know what? The hell with the
rushing title. Sanders, to me, is MVP of the league. No one player is so
responsible for his franchise's fortunes. The day he joined this team was the
day it woke from the dead. He may be second in total yardage, but he leads
everyone in turning sure losses into three- and four-yard gains. On such
plays can a game, and thus a season, turn.
Besides, he has stayed healthy all year. And when you think about all the
guys coming after him, that's a neat feat right there.
So thus ends the 1991 regular season, with the Lions beating the team
that went to the Super Bowl last year. Pretty strange, huh? Logic says the
Lions are too injured to stop a playoff team next week. But who listens to
logic in Detroit anymore?
"Will you guys get together and watch the Bears game tomorrow night?"
someone asked Lomas Brown.
"Oh, most definitely," he said. He looked around at his weary but happy
teammates, the Detroit Lions, the best story in football right now. "Hey, yo!
Where's the party at?"
Look around you, Lomas. It's right here.
FOOTBALL; DLIONS; GAME;Lions