Lions win means Cowboys now have second-longest NFC Championship Game drought.
Before the Dallas Cowboys, the Detroit Lions returned to the NFC Championship Game.
The NFC Championship Game is on the Detroit Lions’ itinerary. Our planet is amazing.
Lions supporters have endured a lot throughout the team’s existence, so it is difficult to be unhappy for them. They have had immense happiness this season as they have not only won two postseason games but also the NFC North for the first time ever (the previous time they won the division was the NFC Central).
These two playoff wins were the first for Detroit since they defeated the Dallas Cowboys at the end of the 1991 season. That would be the last playoff game that Dallas would lose for quite some time as their dynasty was born shortly after, but Detroit came nowhere near any kind of success between then and now.
As time has gone on the Lions have been one of two teams with a longer return to playoff prominence than the Cowboys. Detroit was tied for the longest NFC Championship Game appearance drought in the conference which is now completely over. Washington now sits in last place alone. But you know what that means.
The Dallas Cowboys now have the second-longest NFC Championship Game appearance drought in the entire conference.
We noted on Saturday that the Baltimore Ravens made it to their fifth conference championship game in their franchise history. That is the Baltimore Ravens franchise that literally did not exist the last time that Dallas was in a title game themselves.
The Lions have only made the title game one time since Dallas last did, obviously in our present moment, but what is amazing of all other teams that are not the Cowboys or Commanders is that they have all made it multiple times.
To be clear, the 13 NFC teams that are not in Dallas, Washington, or Detroit are the ones we are referring to. Every single one of them has really made it back to the season’s penultimate game at least twice. By the way, the Carolina Panthers who started playing in the season that Dallas last made it are on that list.
Sadly, there are plenty of ways to express how excruciating the Dallas Cowboys drought is. However, at this moment in time, they and Washington have by far the longest droughts.
Last NFC Championship Game appearance
- Washington Commanders, 1991
- Dallas Cowboys, 1995
- Chicago Bears, 2010
- New York Giants, 2011
- Seattle Seahawks, 2014
- Carolina Panthers, 2015
- Arizona Cardinals, 2015
- Atlanta Falcons, 2016
- Minnesota Vikings, 2017
- New Orleans Saints, 2018
- Green Bay Packers, 2020
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2020
- Los Angeles Rams, 2021
- Philadelphia Eagles, 2022
- San Francisco 49ers, 2023
- Detroit Lions, 2023
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