Lions to host Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams in first round of playoffs

DETROIT — The greatest quarterback in the modern history of the Detroit Lions is now set to play his first postseason game ever at Ford Field.

And do it against the Lions.

Detroit will officially host Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the playoffs at Ford Field. The day and time of the game are expected to be announced Sunday night.

The Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings in their regular-season finale and would have been the No. 1 seed had the officials not incorrectly ID’d Dan Skipper as reporting eligibility on that ill-fated 2-point play last week in Dallas. Instead, they needed Dallas and Philadelphia to lose to climb out of the No. 3 spot on the final day of the regular season. The Eagles held up their end of the bargain, but the Cowboys did not, handling Washington 38-10

So Detroit is the No. 3 seed, and will host the sixth-seeded Rams in the first round of the playoffs. Los Angeles sat Stafford on Sunday, but still came back to beat the San Francisco 49ers 21-20 to clinch the sixth seed over Green Bay.

With that, Stafford is coming back home to a place where he rewrote every page of the Lions record book for a quarterback. A first overall pick in the 2009 draft, he threw for 45,109 yards and 282 touchdowns in 12 seasons, and led Detroit to a franchise-record 74 wins.

Of course, he also led Detroit to a franchise-record 90 losses.

When Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn were fired late in the 2021 season, Stafford made the decision to request a trade rather than stick around for yet another rebuild. He was over the losing, and went on to win it all after incoming general manager Brad Holmes landed a trade that sent Stafford to the Rams.

In return, the Lions got three draft picks, including two first-rounders that ultimately were parlayed into Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs and the record-setting Sam LaPorta. Detroit also got a third-rounder it spent on Ifeatu Melifonwu, one of the club’s best defenders down the stretch this season.

Of course, they also got Jared Goff.

The Rams gave up on Goff down the stretch, eventually benched him and packaged him with all that draft capital to convince the Lions take take Goff and that contract off their hands. Now Goff is playing better than ever, leading the Lions to consecutive top-five finishes in total offense, and just did something Stafford never did: Win a division title in Detroit.

Now Goff is set to face off against the head coach that gave up on him, while Stafford will come home to Ford Field for the first time since the trade he requested — and do it while playing under the banner he could never win, against the team he gave up on, all in an elimination game.

Get your popcorn ready. The first playoff game in Detroit in 30 years is going to be something to be remembered for a very long time.

“I think we’re ready, man,” Goff said. “I think Dan said it best at the end there like no one’s been through the kind of adversity this group has been through the last couple of years. We’re ready. Yeah, we’re ready. It feels like we’ve been waiting for quite some time to get these opportunities and they’re here now. Ford Field will be rocking, and it’ll be fun.”