Was This Really The Detroit Lions’ Most Devastating Moment Since 2010?

The Detroit Lions have had a shaky history, to say the least. A lot of those awful moments have been stored away in the back of the minds of Lions fans after nearly reaching the franchise's first Super Bowl in 2023.

Even still, narrowing down the worst moment over a 13-year span is difficult for a team like the Lions. Thankfully the 2008 season is completely off the table.

However, The 2010s weren't all bad for the Lions. Detroit reached the playoffs for the first time in over a decade in 2011. Of course, the following season, the team went 2-14.

Though the future looks bright for Detroit now, having won the NFC North for the first time and reaching the NFC Championship, a murky past is hard to shake off.

A recent post from Pick 6 on social media has begun to make the rounds. The graphic names the most devastating moment for each NFL franchise since 2010.

For those that blocked it out or just recently jumped on the Lions bandwagon, the Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary the post references is a play in 2015 better known as the "Motown Miracle."

The Lions held a 23-21 lead over Green Bay with one untimed down from the Packers own 39-yard line remaining in a Thursday Night Football matchup in Ford Field. If the Lions could hold on for the win, they'd sweep Green Bay for the first time in almost 25 years and continue their downward spiral of a season.

Rodgers completed the Hail Mary to Richard Rodgers. The Packers finished the season 10-6 and reached the playoffs. The Lions ended the season 7-9.

It was painful, sure, but most devastating?

Earlier in that calendar year Matthew Stafford was strip-sacked by DeMarcus Lawrence, ripping away the Lions chance to beat the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs. The Lions didn't make the playoffs the following year, and it only got worse from there.

At the end of the 2015 season, history repeated itself as another legendary player for the Detroit Lions announced his retirement early as Calvin Johnson called it a career after just nine seasons, just as Barry Sanders did in 1998.

In 2018, Matt Patricia was hired.

If you ask me, the worst moment is the one that kept the Lions from reaching a Super Bowl they very well could have won.

In the 2023 NFC Championship, Dan Campbell opted to run the ball on third and goal with about 1-minute to go. When David Montgomery was stuffed in the backfield by Fred Warner and Javon Kinlaw, it forced the Lions to use a timeout, effectively draining any chance for the Lions to win. Despite scoring a touchdown on the next play, Detroit couldn't recover an onside kick and watch a clock tick away that could not be stopped enough.

That was devastating.

Right now, the NFC Championship exists in a vacuum. Unlike the rest of the examples here which had long-term ramifications, we've yet to see the fallout of the Lions' loss in the NFC Championship.

For what it's worth, the Lions haven't made the playoffs in consecutive seasons in 29 years.