Five weeks before Eric Lynch played the game of his life, he was sitting in the Pontiac Silverdome stands when Barry Sanders went down with a knee injury.
Lynch was on the Detroit Lions’ developmental squad at the time, and over the next few weeks he worked his way into the playing group. He made his first career start the day after Christmas in 1993, when the Lions beat the Chicago Bears, and a week later he won the hearts of Lions fans everywhere when he ran for 115 yards and two touchdowns as the Lions beat the Green Bay Packers to win the NFC Central championship.