Granderson: It's finally the Detroit Lions' turn to dream big

When it comes to power, Jerome “The Bus” Bettis had a lot.

Over 13 seasons, the legendary Pittsburgh Steelers running back used his 5-foot-11, 250-pound frame to punish tacklers all the way to the Hall of Fame. The highlight of his career was winning Super Bowl XL in his hometown of Detroit in 2006.

During the Super Bowl player introductions, Bettis ran to the front believing his teammates were behind him. However, they decided to stay in the tunnel so Bettis could receive most of the cheering alone. It was a tremendous gesture on the part of the players, and he was rewarded with a 21-10 victory.

“I played this game to win a championship,” he said afterward. “I'm a champion and I believe The Bus's last peak is here in Detroit.”

And for years and years, Bettis' Super Bowl victory felt like it belonged to every Lions fan.

That was until Matthew Stafford won Super Bowl LVI with the Rams in 2022.

After 12 seasons playing for Detroit (sacrificing his body and constantly losing), Stafford was traded from the Lions to Los Angeles in exchange for Jared Goff and draft picks. The former Lion found success immediately, hence the “Detroit Rams” jerseys that retailers found difficult to keep on shelves after the Super Bowl victory.

Those jerseys were very popular after the Rams won because it looked like we won too. And Lions fans were hungry for any kind of success. Even successes that really weren't ours.

At least not at all.

That's why Stafford was booed so brutally on Sunday.

The former franchise quarterback did nothing wrong. It's just that, according to Detroit native Marissa Johnson, “we're done cheering on other players and he's already there.”

“Even after they traded him, you still saw his jersey everywhere in town,” said Johnson, who blames her mother for raising her to be a Lions fan. “But now it's really different. “We are a good team with Goff, so Matthew is like any other enemy, although we still love him.”

Maybe for other NFL franchises that level of pettiness and passion doesn't make sense. But having legitimate rivals is a new sensation in Detroit.

We are generally the team that finds a way to lose. Or be destroyed. It is certainly not the rival team listed on the schedule at the beginning of the season.

Why would they do it? Not only had we not won a division title in 30 years, we had only won one playoff game in the modern era of the NFL.

Plus, we were the team celebrating Stafford after his trade. We celebrate The Bus just for being born in the city. We had no legitimate rivals because we were not a threat to take anything from anyone.

That was until Goff came along.

Now we have an enemy.

Because Detroit is no longer the franchise that's just happy to be here. When the city hosted the Super Bowl in 2006, it was the first and only postseason game played at Ford Field, which opened in 2002. That's a long time to support players who were once ours. That's a long time to build a diet off of victories that didn't really belong to us.

But on Sunday?

Sunday was ours. All ours. Without sharing. There are no inherited victories. No flowchart is needed to justify why a certain victory is important to the city. For the first time at Ford Field, it was truly the lion's den. And although Stafford wasn't mauled, he certainly wasn't comfortable either.

“I can't wait to get home to see it all again,” a lifelong fan who left Ford Field after the Lions beat the Rams told me. “He hasn't been this excited since Barry [Sanders] I was playing.”

Former Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders chats on the field before the Lions hosted the Rams during an NFC wild card game at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday.

(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)

That name came up a lot. Not only was the largest of the Lions in the building, but it remains a part of the heart of Detroit. Just like The Bus.

And Stafford, too. There were boos in the stadium, but no hate toward our Super Bowl replacement. It's just that our expectations have changed. In the past, a talented player joining the franchise in free agency was enough to earn a statue. But now there is a postseason victory. A victory for the Detroit Lions. And now everything has changed.

“They went to every game,” Bettis said of his family the day he won the chip. “They had seen all the successes and all the failures. “I won a championship, but we all win a championship.”

It's such a beautiful feeling. One that used to provide sustenance to the city. But not anymore. Detroit no longer wants anything to do with winning championships indirectly.

On Sunday, as the final seconds ticked down, the crowd chanted the name of their new hometown hero: “Jared Goff, Jared Goff” as Stafford and company walked out.

Keep up your moral victories, NFL. Detroit is ready to have our own championship ring.