On Sunday we witnessed a once in a generation event, as the Detroit Lions won a playoff game for the first time since January 1992, only their second playoff win since Bobby Layne cursed them in 1958, which means the longest NFL playoff win drought now belongs to….

The Miami Dolphins, who are now the only NFL team without a playoff win in the 21st Century, their last playoff win being a Saturday Wild Card win against the Indianapolis Colts on December 30, 2000.

Yes, it was so long ago that Bill Clinton still had 3 weeks of his presidency left, the Patriots had never won a Super Bowl, the Chicago Cubs had only gone 92 years without a World Series win, and Bulls fans loathed Jerry Krause with a passion…

Thankfully, they found it in their hearts to move on, and boo his widow instead.

The Dolphins got shutout by the Oakland Raiders the next week, and have since made 5 appearances in the playoffs, losing every single time in the Wild Card Round (2001, 2008, 2016, 2022, 2023).

Actually, here’s some more contemporary context for this NFL season:

C.J. Stroud was born on October 3, 2001.

The Houston Texans played their first regular season game as a franchise on September 8, 2002.

In that time, Stroud grew up, attended Ohio State, and was drafted by the Texans at No.2 overall in April 2023.

On Saturday, CJ Stroud led the Houston Texans to an NFL playoff win, becoming the youngest quarterback to ever win an NFL playoff game.

A few hours later, the Miami Dolphins were frozen 26-7 by the Chiefs in historically cold Kansas City weather.

Another fun fact – Peyton Manning was the starting quarterback for the Colts in that Wild Card defeat against the Dolphins in 2000.

In 2022, Peyton did a Peyton’s Places episode about the Curse of Bobby Layne, at a time when the Lions had started the 2022 season 1-6, and attempted to lift the curse at Ford Field with help from Jeff Daniels, a cup of salt and a bathtub of whiskey…

The Lions went 8-2 the rest of the 2022 season to finish with a winning record for the first time in 5 years, then went 12-5 this year, winning their first division title since 1993, and won their first playoff game in a generation, passing the longest playoff win drought to the Dolphins.

Talk about playing the long con.