One of the great things about the NFL scheduling system is that, due to the number of teams and two conferences, teams do not play those from the rival conference more than every few years.
This potentially makes those games more special for fans.
With that in mind, the Denver Broncos have a history with the Detroit Lions that is deeper than most know, and the Lions themselves have a pedigree far greater than what is represented by the most recent seasons of play.
The "modern era" has the Lions as the only team in the NFC never to have played in the Super Bowl, and the Broncos and Lions have faced each other just 11 times previously (in the regular season), with Denver having a 6-5 edge.