The Detroit Lions were getting ready to play the Green Bay Packers in the final game of their forgettable 2008 season when linebacker Ryan Nece gathered his teammates for a quick pep talk.
As Nece recalls it, he was only a few seconds into his speech about what was at stake that frigid December day when center Dominic Raiola interrupted him with a dose of reality.
“Guys were like, ‘Ah, screw this pep talk. Let’s just go play,’” Nece said. “It was like, ‘Let’s go get this over with and either we’re going to face the music in that we become 0-16 or we find a way to get a victory and then we never talk about it again.