{"id":686463,"date":"2026-01-18T14:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T14:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/686463\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T14:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T14:08:14","slug":"who-should-lions-fans-root-for-in-rams-vs-bears-texans-vs-patriots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/686463\/","title":{"rendered":"Who should Lions fans root for in Rams vs. Bears, Texans vs. Patriots?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another day of NFL playoffs, and another day of exciting football games. The Buffalo Bills suffered another heartbreaking postseason loss in overtime to the Denver Broncos in a controversial finish that will likely lead to days of debating about officiating. I almost made this Question of the Day about the enforcement of pass interference, but I think I\u2019ve stated my case about making it a 15-yard penalty max enough times. We don\u2019t even need to talk about the 49ers vs. Seahawks slaughtering.<\/p>\n

So, instead, let\u2019s turn to Sunday\u2019s slate of games, where we could be in for another couple thrillers. Early on, the Houston Texans head to Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots, and to close out the Divisional Round, the Chicago Bears host the Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n

Just like on Saturday<\/a>, I\u2019m going to provide my own rooting guide based on my own preferences. Feel free to tag along or root for whoever you please.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Question of the Day is:<\/p>\n

Who should Lions fans be rooting for in Sunday\u2019s Divisional Round playoff games?<\/p>\n

For me, this is all about historical success. While this version of the Patriots is far less obnoxious than the Tom Brady\/Bill Belichick one, it\u2019s still the same organization and fans. The Boston area simply does not need any more sports success than they\u2019ve already had. Spread the love a little bit.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Texans are fun and exciting, and they\u2019re certainly a model of how a team with a dominant defensive front can still win in this league. They have never made a Conference Championship game since their creation in 2002, and while it would be mildly embarrassing if a franchise so new were to get to the Super Bowl before the Lions, I still root for underdogs like them.<\/p>\n

This should be a relative no-brainer for Lions fans, but I just cannot root for a division rival in the playoffs. Not to mention the viewing frustration of a team that regularly plays terrible football for three quarters and somehow pulls themselves out of it every time. They just can\u2019t keep getting away with it.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the part where I know I\u2019ll lose some Lions fans: I want Matthew Stafford to win another Super Bowl, and I want him to make the Hall of Fame. While I\u2019m always a fan of the Lions above everything else in the NFL, I\u2019m also a fan of individual players in this league. I have long admired Stafford for his toughness, his physical gifts, and extremely competitive spirit. He\u2019s funny (when he wants to be), he cunning, and during his 12 years in Detroit, he never whined, complained, or did anything even close to stir up controversy. In short, I respect the hell out of him, and I like to see good people and great players rewarded.<\/p>\n

Will it sting a bit to see him inducted into the Hall of Fame with most of his success being in Los Angeles? Yeah, sure. But that moment isn\u2019t about me. It\u2019s about a damn good player who was\u2014and still is\u2014extremely fun to watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another day of NFL playoffs, and another day of exciting football games. The Buffalo Bills suffered another heartbreaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[52105,84539,7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-686463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-detroit-lions-conversation-starters-and-community-questions","9":"tag-detroit-lions-discussion","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-los-angeles-rams","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-losangelesrams","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115916498783470720","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}