The 2023 Detroit Lions had been defined by their ability to overcome adversity. During any game—or even any individual series—it would seem they would never get derailed by a bump in the road. They’d make a mistake or be on the wrong side of a bad call, then just dust off their pants, and keep moving forward. They never lost two games in a row, and rarely made the same mistake twice.
But on Sunday night against the San Francisco 49ers with the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance on the line, they finally succumbed to adversity.