Lions mainstays celebrate historic milestone: ‘Definitely not just another win’

DETROIT — Taylor Decker is the longest-tenured Detroit Lions player. Frank Ragnow spent the first four seasons of his career buried in last place, with last year’s 9-8 record the first time the Pro Bowl center finished above .500 in the NFL.

And while this roster features a ton of youth and new faces. Decker and Ragnow have been through some dark times around these parts, and here they are, part of the foundational offensive line that just hosted and helped fuel the franchise’s first playoff win in 30-plus years.

The Lions beat the Los Angeles Rams 24-23 in the wild-card round, notching their first playoff win since January 1992. And it came on a night where the franchise was hosting their first playoff game in 30 years, not to mention in the actual city of Detroit since 1957.

For Decker and Ragnow? It’s the culmination of years of dedication and believing they could do more. There was also a fair amount of pain and suffering along the way, with so many brutal losses. Decker had played 96 regular-season games between playoff appearances, with his only taste of the playoffs coming as a first-round rookie offensive tackle in 2016.

Ragnow hadn’t tasted postseason action since Arkansas lost in the 2016 Belk Bowl to Virginia Tech. The Lions went 17-46-2 in his first four seasons with the franchise, so those were hard times for the battle-tested offensive linemen. But Sunday night’s win over the Rams was a reminder of those struggles, the road here and the people that supported them through the challenges.

“We’ve been through a lot of not-so-fun days,” Ragnow said in the locker room. “This fanbase. This team for my career, at least, and before that. To see us kinda climb toward the top here, and hopefully, we just keep on going. It’s been pretty cool.

“And just to see how the fans have stuck with us through that. And now, showed up tonight? And more than I expected. It’s pretty awesome … Just gratitude. Thank you. Thank you for sticking with us through those years. And we have the opportunity right now, exceeding my expectations. Just incredible. Incredible atmosphere tonight.”

Related: What’s being said nationally after Lions make history in wild-card round

Related: Rams’ Matthew Stafford dismisses Lions fans with stern postgame presser

Decker is one of the few who were on the roster the last time the Lions played in the postseason back in 2016, as previously mentioned. He’s turned into one of the main voices of the locker room in tough and bright moments. And after a couple of weeks in the national spotlight, the veteran left tackle echoed Ragnow in what this win meant for them, this franchise and its rabid fans.

“I don’t know, just a culmination of all the hard times,” Decker said in the locker room. “When you just keep showing up, you keep working hard because you know you have a goal in mind, and sometimes it might feel like it’s two steps back, but you just keep showing up. There’s no other way to go about it. Those tough times make these times even sweeter.

“I’m telling the guys before the game, the moment that we’ve been waiting for is here. We’ve been putting in the work, blood, sweat, tears, pain, and now it’s here. It’s just special.”

And, go figure, it was the offensive line to help put the game away in the four-minute drill.

The Rams punted their final chance away with 4:15 left in a 24-23 game, with only one timeout remaining. Detroit’s offense did what it’s done all season — they put their foot on the gas and leaned on their aggressive head coach, wunderkind playcaller and calm starting quarterback.

Jared Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for the game-clinching first down on second-and-9 out of the two-minute warning, and that was it for the Rams and Matthew Stafford’s season.

“Jared, like I’ve said it before, but he is just, no matter what the situation is, good, bad, ugly, pretty — same guy,” Ragnow said. “Consistent guy in the huddle. Unphased. Just keeps going to work, and I appreciate that so much about him.

“It was everything (this moment)– I don’t even know how to put it into words. It was everything I imagined and more. It was like, running out of the tunnel when they introduced the offense was just nuts. And then just every third down when we were on defense was crazy. It was the coolest game-like atmosphere I’ve ever been part of in my life.”