With the Detroit Lions’ win on Sunday, the Washington franchise was again in the news, but not for good reasons.
On Sunday, in the NFC Divisional playoff round, the Detroit Lions defeated the Tampa Bay Bucs 31-23, advancing to next Sunday’s NFC Championship game. It is the first time the Lions have earned a trip to the game in 32 seasons.
It now means the Cowboys have the second-longest drought of 28 seasons, and unfortunately, yes, Washington now has the NFL’s longest drought of 32 seasons since playing in a conference championship game.
With the Lions win, the Cowboys (28 seasons) and Commanders (32 seasons) now have the two longest droughts of not making the NFC Championship. pic.twitter.com/0UOwZPQLAX
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 21, 2024
It was the magical 1991 season when the Lions defeated the Cowboys in Detroit of the Divisional round earning a trip to face the Redskins at RFK, who had defeated the Falcons 24-7 in the mud during the seat-cushion game.
In that NFC Championship game, the Lions had future Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders, but Washington had their own Hall of Famers (Art Monk, Darrell Green, and Russ Grimm, who was injured) and several big-time players making big-time plays like Wilber Marshall with his three sacks.
Charles Mann’s sack and forced fumble on the Lions’ initial series was recovered by Fred Stokes, setting the tone for the day. Mark Rypien completed 12 of 17 passes for 228 yards, two touchdowns and a 152.2 passer rating.
Washington held Sanders to 44 yards in his 11 carries, and Monk and Gary Clark both had second-half touchdown receptions from Rypien, while Green’s interception return for a 32-yard touchdown raised the final score to 41-10.
So now, it is Washington who has the longest streak in the NFL of not playing in a conference championship game since 1991 (32 seasons). It is no coincidence that the former owner began his era in 1999, and it ended as recently as this past July.
Now we hope the new Josh Harris ownership group, general manager Adam Peters, and the next head coach will be the ones to end this three-decades-long drought.
