Detroit fans at Levi's Stadium dejected but eyeing future with 'a lot of promise'
Francis X. DonnellySanta Clara, Calif. — Detroit Lions fans sadly bid adieu to a crazy, exhilarating football season Sunday as the team lost the NFC Championship. The 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers ended a magical year for the Lions, just one game away from the Super Bowl.
It was a crushing blow for the Lions' faithful, as the team had led 24-7 at halftime and followers admitted looking ahead to the ultimate championship game.
"It's sad. I thought we had it," Connie Sutter of Novi said from her end-zone seat. "We were so close."
But other Lions fans were philosophical, saying the team had a great year and has a lot of promise in future years.
"They have nothing to be ashamed about," Tom Wittman of Monroe said from the end zone. "They have a lot to be proud of."
The fans said they were dejected after watching the Lions' offense slice through the 49ers during the first half. The 49ers dominated the second half, scoring 27 points in a row.
At Levi’s Stadium, these footloose fans of the Lions had cheered and then mourned through the team’s biggest game in 32 years.
In three playoff games, they’ve seen the Lions go from the improbable to the vanquishing to the sublime.
But the NFC Championship on Sunday against the 49ers was the toughest one yet, fans said.
It was the kneecap-biters against the class of the National Football Conference. The winner went to the Super Bowl.
California Dreamin', indeed.
“We’ve waited our whole life for this,” said Donna Bourgoin, 59, of Rochester.
In case you’re wondering, no, Levi’s Stadium hadn't turned into Ford Field West. Michiganians didn’t come here and cast a giant Honolulu blue wave over the stadium.
Lions fans, in their blue jerseys, were strangers in a strange land. The tide here was 49ers scarlet red.
But Detroit faithful seemed to have a secret code. Each time a bunch of blue shirts passed each other, they uttered the same word — “Lions.”
Unlike the bars and restaurants in the shadow of Ford Field, Levi’s Stadium is surrounded by mammoth parking lots. Instead of the Detroit skyline, it boasted the Santa Cruz Mountains. Temperatures reached 70 degrees.
One of the parking lots hosted a joint tailgate between the fans of the Lions and 49ers. Some Lions fans boycotted the shindig (fraternizing with the enemy and all that) but many of the Detroit faithful jumped right in.
Several hundred beer-swilling Lions fans mingled with three times as many 49ers fans. The two fanbases got along famously. One San Francisco fan even complimented the achievements of the overachieving Lions.
It may have helped that the teams didn’t have a long, bitter rivalry. It was just two groups of people in contrasting jerseys who love football.
For Janet Dabney, it was a blood feud. She and her husband and sister were tailgating Lion fans. Her great nephew, Joshua, 9, from California, is a 49ers man.
“I know we won’t get any Lions love from him,” Dabney said. “That’s OK. He should root for his hometown team.
Meanwhile, other Lions fans milled about the cavernous concourse of Levi’s Stadium, scooping up souvenirs of the historic day.
Julie Van Buskirk admitted it was unusual to be so far from home for a football game. But these are unusual times in Lions Land.
Buskirk, 58, of South Lyon, who attended with her husband, isn’t used to the team playing so deeply into the season. And she’s certainly not accustomed to them trying to win three playoff games in three weeks after winning exactly zero in 32 years.
She said she loves the winning so much that she didn't want it to stop. Don’t stop believing, as a certain Bay Area rock group might say.
“I have a huge passion for the team,” she said.
After watching the Lions winning the first two parts of the playoff trifecta, fans said there was no way they were going to miss the third leg.
Matt Margraf said the team has come a long way, and he wasn’t talking about their flight from Detroit to San Francisco.
The 32-year playoff drought is just part of the team’s sad history. It has gone 66 years without a championship.
“It was incredibly frustrating,” Margraf said. “Despite the frustration, I feel in love with the team.”
Margraf, 47, of Oxford, who attended the game with his father and a friend, said fans over 40 fall into two groups: the hope springs eternal crowd or cursed pessimist. He falls in the former, ever hopeful at the beginning of each new season.
Now that it finally came true, he couldn’t be more pleased.
“It’s been a great ride,” he said.
Some of the Lions' faithful couldn't help looking past Sunday’s game. They had hoped to watch the team play in the Super Bowl in two weeks.
It didn’t help that their flight to California went right past Las Vegas, where the ultimate championship game will be played. With the Super Bowl so close, geographically and mentally, M.G. Shapiro said he had almost been able to taste it.
“It’s the best feeling,” he said. “This is the dawn of a new day. Being a part of it is incredible.”
Shapiro, 45, of Troy is a city firefighter whose rig has a bobblehead of Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson.
He said all the years of losing has galvanized the fan base. He has seen it when he goes to away games and sees stadiums full of Lions fans.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “Being with all these crazy fans who travel cross country. It’s the best feeling.
But first things first, you lion-hearted dreamers.
The game Sunday was the hardest part of the Lions' impossible voyage. The 49ers have been considered one of the best, if not the best, teams in the NFL the past few seasons.
And fans like Phil Francetich knew it’s always tougher to win on the road than at home.
Francetich, 34, of New Baltimore is the voice of experience. The member of the Crackman’s group, named after a popular fan who dresses in blue-collar duds, frequently attends road games, having visited 15 different stadiums. Besides being a road warrior, he has had season tickets to home games since 2011.
Despite the odds, he had been hoping for the best.
The Lions were seven-point underdogs Sunday, according to professional gambling houses, but fans had still held out hope. They couldn't help themselves.
One of the pie-eyed dreamers was Sandy Braund.
Braund, 70, of Livonia is already playing with house money. Her employer, AAA Life Insurance Co., gave her two free tickets to the game in honor of her 50 years of service.
The flabbergasted recipient brought her brother, Michael Lewis. She didn’t go to the two earlier playoff games because she was too nervous. Now, thanks to her employer, she has no choice.
“This has been one heck of a year,” she said. “I know the stars are aligned and we will win.”
Generosity seemed to be in the air. Jeremy Bullard was also blessed by a kindly benefactor.
Bullard, 37, of Ferndale won a drawing for two tickets at his employer, Detroit Manufacturing Systems. It included two round-trip tickets, a 5-star hotel and $600 cash.
For his partner, Bullard picked his mother. The reason? She used to take him to Lions games at the old Pontiac Silverdome. She once got a photo of him in Barry Sanders’ locker. She also bought him a pile of team souvenirs that covered his bedroom walls.
So, of course, he took his mom.
“She started crying with tears of joy,” he said.
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