Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is on the tail end of his 16th season in the National Football League. During that time, he has been one of the most durable and dependable quarterbacks in the entire league.
Stafford has played in at least 15 games in 13 of his 16 seasons in the league. In 12 of those seasons, he played in every game, and it would have been the case in 13 of his 16 seasons in the league had the Rams not decided to rest the veteran quarterback in Week 18 of this season in preparation for the team's Wild Card matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.
In four seasons in Los Angeles, the veteran quarterback has made the playoffs three times and won the Super Bowl once. However, things were not always so promising for Stafford's career.
While the previous four seasons have been promising for the veteran quarterback, the 12 seasons he spent with the Detroit Lions were anything but. Stafford spent the bulk of his career carrying a lifeless Lions' franchise, going 74-90-1 as the team's franchise quarterback.
Stafford and wide receiver Calvin Johnson helped keep a putrid Lions organization afloat and relevant for years. Then, Johnson retired before the 2016 season, making life even more challenging for Stafford in Detroit.
Stafford would spend his last five seasons in Detroit without Johnson or a legitimate team. Still, Stafford was a pillar in the Detroit community and continued to take an active role in the Detroit community even after leaving for Los Angeles.
Stafford was traded to the Rams before the 2021 season, a trade that has greatly benefitted both franchises. Stafford and the Rams secured a Super Bowl, and the picks the Lions gained from the Stafford trade have helped turn the Lions into arguably the best team in the National Football League this season.
With the Rams winning a Super Bowl and the Lions having arguably the two best seasons in team history in consecutive seasons, the trade was one of the rare occurrences that two teams nearly equally benefited from a trade.
Still, for all of the positives from the trade, the Rams and Lions are now one win away from facing each other in the NFC Championship in Detroit with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
The Lions have looked unstoppable for most of the season, showing few, if any, weaknesses. They have one of the best home-field advantages in the league and are the number-one seed in the conference.
Few teams in the NFC have what it takes to beat this Lions team while dealing with record crowd noise at Ford Field with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. However, if one quarterback can do it, it's the quarterback who had that same Ford Field crowd in the palm of his hand for over a decade.
It would be poetic for the Lions to have the best season in franchise history, only for their former franchise quarterback to be the last hurdle between them and their first-ever trip to the Super Bowl.
It would be must-see TV.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/rams/ as Do Stafford, Rams Have a Date with Destiny in Detroit?.