Football has become cynical, deathly so. Only the best quarterbacks, only the top stories, culture means winning and not much else. When Dan Campbell came to town, it was far from that; a hope that things could change, a will to built culture and a new way for a franchise everyone had dismissed.
And for his trouble, the stakes couldn’t be set much higher than the end of the season. The Minnesota Vikings had refused to budge from chasing the Detroit Lions, and so the biggest damn game in the land was set. The Lions didn’t just show up, they crushed the Vikings, sent them screaming to Los Angeles and got some well-earned rest and the top seed.