But wait -- what's this?? The Lions are the 2-0 team? And the Eagles, perennial playoff contenders and Super Bowl pretenders, are the 0-2 club? What in the name of Gary Danielson and Ron Jaworski is going on here?
The Eagles blew a game in Week 1 at Green Bay thanks largely to a muffed punt late in the fourth quarter. And then, under the glare of the Monday night ESPN lights, the Redskins marched into Philly and left the Eagles wings clipped, 20-12.
The Lions, meanwhile, have beaten two of the NFL's bottom feeders, and not without some struggling. But they did it, and sport that nifty, Eagles-like 2-0 record.
The Lions haven't started 3-0 since 1980. Ahh, yes -- 1980. That was the "Another One Bites The Dust" year. Remember that? Billy Sims was a rookie. Danielson was making a triumphant return from a knee injury that caused him to miss all of the 1979 season -- a year in which the Lions started a rookie QB and finished 2-14. Hence the drafting of Sims. The Lions actually started 4-0 in '80, and a few of them, led by DB Jimmy "Spiderman" Allen, recorded a version of "Dust", the Queen song, with some cleverly re-worked lyrics.
See Billy run, you can't catch him with a gun
And another one's gone, another one's gone
Another one bites the dust!
Hey -- we're gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust!
OK, so it wasn't Grammy Award material. Coach Monte Clark wasn't enamored with the whole song idea -- which got a lot of radio play in the week after the fourth win. And his feeling of foreboding was proven true. After starting 4-0, the Lions stumbled home with a 9-7 record, which wasn't good enough to make the playoffs. That was also the year in which the Bears' Dave Williams ran back the OT kickoff to beat the Lions on Thanksgiving Day -- a killer of a loss.
The Lions' hastily-recorded song of crowing didn't see much airplay by mid-season.
Sims helped lead the Lions to a 4-0 start as a rookie in '80; it was mostly downhill from there
The 1980 Lions opened with a stunning demolishing of the LA Rams, on the road -- 41-20. Sims scored a couple of touchdowns. The next week, in Green Bay (maybe it was Milwaukee; not sure), the Lions won again. Coming home, they beat the St. Louis Cardinals. The next week, again at home, they defeated the Minnesota Vikings.
They went into Atlanta with their perfect record and a music record, to boot. The Falcons, though, handled the Lions easily, 43-28, as they stifled Sims. From that point on, the Lions struggled to win consistently. After Week 14 they finally fell to .500. They won their last two, but the Vikings, naturally, had sewn up the division (thanks in part to a flukey Hail Mary win over Cleveland, courtesy of Ahmad Rashad's miracle grab).
I wonder if anyone has a recording of the Lions' version of "Dust". Maybe somewhere on eBay.
Conventional wisdom still says the Eagles over the Lions, despite the teams' asymmetrical records. Odds are the Lions won't go 3-0, nor the Eagles 0-3. That's OK -- I can't stomach the thought of another recording. As if coach Rod Marinelli would allow it, anyway. But I think the 1980 Lions snuck away to do their record behind coach Clark's back. Is there a similar ne'er-do-well on this year's Lions to match Spiderman Allen?
Thank goodness Dre' Bly has been banished to Denver. He's a candidate for such loose cannon type activities, methinks.
1 comment:
Every time the Lions start out well, I expect to hear someone play that song. Nobody ever does.
Even though the Lions missed the playoffs in 1980, it was still a fun year. I'd like to hear the song again.
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