As the Lions rise up, it’s worth remembering the guy who has seen the worst lows

DETROIT — Taylor Decker had tears rolling down his face. The Detroit Lions have a way of doing that to you, of course, and Decker has now played longer for them than anyone left in this town. He was here when Jim Caldwell was fired, and Bob Quinn too. He was here for every day of the Matt Patricia regime, which is enough to make any grown man cry.

He was here for Aaron Rodgers eliminating them from a playoff race with the longest Hail Mary in the history of the regular season. He was here for Lamar Jackson converting a fourth-and-19, then the officials swallowing their whistle on an obvious delay of game before Justin Tucker trotted onto the Ford Field turf to attempt a 66-yard field goal, the sort of thing no human being has ever made in this game before or since. He banked it in off the crossbar as time expired.

Maybe you cried after that one. A week later, Dan Campbell did in the middle of a press conference. Like I said, the Detroit Lions have a way of doing that to you, to anyone.

But in case you didn’t believe in their rebirth before, you surely do now. They took control of the NFC North with thrilling wins at Arrowhead Stadium and Lambeau Field in the first month of this season, then returned home on Sunday and fileted the Carolina Panthers 42-24 at Ford Field.

That’s three straight wins, all by double digits, and 12 wins in their last 15 games overall.

It also happened to be Decker’s 100th career start for this sad organization that has made so many people sad for so long. And the guy who has been around for more sadness than anyone else left in that locker room had tears of joy rolling down his face.

“I think the thing that makes it the most meaningful for me was kind of the bad times,” Decker said. “When we weren’t winning and nobody wanted to watch us play, and nobody thought we were a good team, and nobody ever thought we were going to get it right and get it going in the right direction. But that’s just one of those instances where you just keep showing up and you keep putting the work in because the Lions are going to play football on Sunday whether I’m out there or not, and it was important to me and it’s been important to me to be to be a part of that because I feel like that’s what I was brought here for.

“I feel like I was brought here to try and be a piece to help the team win. And it took a long time, man. But I’m almost thankful for those dark times, because it’s made this just sweet. I’m revitalized. I feel great. Like, I feel the best I’ve ever felt.”

Indeed. After spending four long seasons in dead-last, the Lions have finally emerged from the abyss. The tide began turning when they won eight of their final 10 games last season, despite putting the youngest roster in the league on the field. Now that roster is a year older, and with basically everyone back, plus lots of help via free agency and the draft, expectations were sky-high heading into the opener — so high, Dan Campbell openly wondered whether the hype train was all a little much.

It wasn’t.

Now 4-1, the Lions are off to their best start since 2011. They hold a 1.5-game lead over Green Bay in the division, pending whatever the Packers do tonight on Monday Night Football, plus hold the head-to-head tiebreaker heading into the rematch on Thanksgiving. They’ve won 12-3 in their last 15 games overall, the third-best record in the league during that stretch, and have won six games in a row against the division, something they haven’t done since 1995.

Good stuff.

Even better: Just how many different ways they are doing it.

They can win games through the air. They can win games on the ground. These days, they can even win with defense. Just ask Kansas City about that, or Bijan Robinson.

On Sunday, they played without their star receiver, top draft pick, best rookie and top free-agent signing. They still hung 42 points on Carolina and coasted to their third straight victory, all by double digits, a first for this team since 1997.

So what kind of team does that make them?

“We’re a good team,” quarterback Jared Goff said, bluntly.

Yes. Just, yes.

There is nothing special in beating the Carolina Panthers, who at 0-5, have done nothing but get beat this season. That’s a bad team with a rookie quarterback who is making rookie quarterback mistakes, and the Lions baited him into a big one that wound up in the hands of Jerry Jacobs.

But letdowns happen every year. Hell, they happen almost every week. Washington just got walloped by maybe the worst team in the league on Thursday night. The Lions know all about that too. For years, they were the worst team in the league, and every brief reprieve in the pain — every little sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, they were turning things around — was immediately followed by perpetual setback.

Just last year, they had won three straight games when they faced this very Panthers team, and would go on to win every game after it, and would have made the playoffs had they just taken care of business against one of the worst teams in the league. Instead, they suffered an inexplicable 37-23 loss.

Inexplicable, unless you’re familiar with Detroit Lions football.

No one knows that pain better than Taylor Decker, and I asked him about the worst part of it.

“There were just times for me personally when I would look at the big picture and it would be overwhelming for me because I wouldn’t know what to do to try and help the team win,” Decker told me. “It seemed like there was so much going on, and I’m like, ‘Where do we start?’ And I kind of got caught up to where I was focusing too much on that and it was kind of bogging me down mentally because when you’re just angry all the time, it’s exhausting.

“I think anger is awesome fuel, but when it’s all you have, it just wears you down, and I just felt like I was worn down all the time. Nobody wants to be a loser. But, like, you are going to be what your record says you are. I’ve always felt personally like I’m a winner, but I wasn’t. Because that’s not what the record said. But again, it’s one of those instances where you don’t have any choice but to keep showing up. You’re not going to quit, you just have to keep showing up.”

And continue to show up, the Lions have. Yes, they lost an overtime heartbreaker to Seattle in Week 2. They’ve also beaten the best team they’ve faced, and won in two of the most hostile environments for professional football on the planet. That gave them control of the NFC North, and made them a double-digit favorite against winless Carolina. You know, the sort of trap game that has trapped them forever, including just last year.

Only this time, the Lions flexed their growing maturity by eviscerating the Panthers in every way you can. They took away the football (three times) on defense, and pounded it into the end zone (six times) on offense. They needed just five plays to score 14 points, and were already up 21-7 by the time Jacobs had a chance to pick off Bryce Young in the second quarter.

Then they did what good teams do, and went for the throat. On the very next play, with Ford Field still in a tizzy over the swelling lead and sudden turnover, the Lions immediately dialed up a mesmerizing play where Goff pitched the ball to David Montgomery, who pitched the ball to Kalif Raymond, who pitched the ball back to Goff, who wound up and fired a 31-yard touchdown pass to the hottest rookie tight end in the league.

Just like that, it was 28-7.

Just like that, it was 4-1.

“I think we’re becoming a more mature team and understanding when we play a team that, with all due respect to them, they’re 0-4 and we feel like we can do some good things against, we go out and do good things against,” Goff said. “Again, all due respect. We’ve been there. Like, we know what that feels like.”

Boy, have they been there.

Boy, do they know what that feels like.

“But when we’re becoming this team that we hope to be, when we play a team that we want to get after, we got to go do it,” Goff said. “And I thought we did a good job today.”

Boy, did they ever.

Just ask Taylor Decker. He’s seen depths no man ever should. In an era of the Brand New Lions, where young playmakers populate all corners of the roster, the veteran left tackle is one of the few guys left who actually went through the really bad days. He made his NFL debut way back in 2016, matched up against fearsome pass rusher Robert Mathis.

“I remember having to pee a lot before the game,” Decker said of the nerves.

All these years later, Decker has played through more pain and loss and hardship and dysfunction than just about anyone else in the league. Serious question: Who has lost more games than him? Decker — who once played through appendicitis rather than going to a hospital — has spilled sweat and blood and pee for eight years for one of the worst organizations in professional sports. Now the sun has come up, a new day has arrived, and he’s losing body fluids of a totally different kind.

Tears of hard-earned joy.

“It just means a lot to me,” Decker said, choking up. “I’m passionate about being able to play for this organization. I’m passionate about being able to start for them. I’m passionate about the people who supported me. I’m passionate about the fanbase, who, (expletive), they’re always there. Even when we were losing, there were always people in the stadium, always people cheering.”

Now, they’re not losing.

Now, the people who have cried for so long have more to cheer about than ever before.