Getty Justin Tucker celebrates a kick that beat the Lions in 2021.
Many have been wondering after some recent results if the Detroit Lions might in fact be cursed, and an interesting new stat off their latest defeat could prove why that is the case.
While many Detroit fans may have felt like they had seen a brand new way to lose on Sunday, September 26 after a now-record 66 yard field goal doomed them, a whole other generation of fans already had experience with the exact same level of heartbreak multiple decades ago.
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Believe it or not, Sunday wasn’t the first time the Lions had lost on a longest field goal in NFL history by the same exact score of 19-17. The same thing played out when kicker Tom Dempsey beat Detroit back in 1970, as was aptly pointed out by NFL writer Jarrett Bailey.
It seems quite absurd that the Lions would have lost a game in the same exact fashion as they did 51 years ago, but it actually happened. Only the Lions can create the kind of deja-vu that leaves folks wondering if they are actually existing in a parallel universe.
Lightening might not always make a habit of striking twice, but you could forgive Lions fans for not believing that to be the case after seeing the results of this past weekend’s game.
Lions Not Cursed According to Jamaal Williams
Many believe defeats like the one Detroit sustained and facts like those presented above only points to the fact that the team is cursed. As Williams said, though, that doesn’t play a role for the players in the locker room, who are only focused on doing their job in order to win games.
“It’s more of people coming in and I feel when you come to a team like this where they’re already “cursed” or whatever, it depends on just how your mental is if you’re going to let what everybody else is saying about a team that you just got to (define you). You know it’s not that type of team, it’s not cursed. It’s just us, we need to be mentally, physically focused. We need to be mentally focused and just quit with all the mistakes we had today. I feel we wouldn’t have put ourselves in this position in the first place. It’s football, we jus learn from it and have to come back faster.”
Mentally, Williams seems to know that the Lions need to move on and find a way to focus in between the lines. If the team does that, they will find a way to avoid losses that force folks to wonder if the team is indeed cursed as many suspect.
Watch Justin Tucker’s Field Goal Beat Lions
The Lions had the Ravens backed up on the last second drive, but a pass to Sammy Watkins got the Ravens in range for a potential kick. After the controversial incompletion, Tucker stepped up and drilled the long kick, hitting it off the crossbar to provide Baltimore an improbable 17-16 win. It ended up being the longest field goal in NFL history.
Here’s a look:
A NEW NFL RECORD.
66 YARDS. OFF THE CROSSBAR. @JTUCK9.
Obviously, Tucker had plenty of leg, but clearly, had a penalty been called, the Lions would have had a better chance to win given the distance of the kick. It’s unlikely that Tucker would have had enough leg from 71 yards to win the game on the same play.
Regardless, the kick in in the books now, and it simply joins the running list of improbable ways the franchise has found to lose through the years.
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