If you’re nervous about flying, is there anything better than having your favorite NFL team playing a thriller to distract you? That was the case for dozens of Detroit Lions fans on Sunday night, as their team went toe to toe with the Houston Texans.
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It was a whacky game from start to finish. Jared Goff had the shocker of all shockers. He completed just 50 percent of his passes, and he threw five, count ’em, five interceptions in the first three quarters. Forty-five percent of Detroit’s drives through three quarters ended in an interception. Yikes!
At that point, Lions fans on the flight were probably wishing they were anywhere but stuck in front of a TV screen.
Thankfully, Goff and his team turned it around in the fourth quarter. They put up nine unanswered points in the frame to tie the game with five minutes left. Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn was given the chance to take back the lead, but he was way off on a 58-yard go-ahead field goal with two minutes left.
Detroit then had 1:51 to drive down and win the game. They matriculated their way down to the Texans’ 35, with four seconds remaining. Lions kicker Jake Bates trotted onto the field, and this was the moment the flight attendant decided to make the final in-flight announcements. The Detroit faithful’s in-flight reaction to that distracting announcement could not have been better.
gotta feel for the flight attendant here 😭
(via hbomm/TT) pic.twitter.com/KTkNB8ohBm
— NFL (@NFL) November 11, 2024
Come on, read the room, Mrs. Flight Attendant!
Fan reactions to the Lions fans on the flight have been priceless
The funniest part is that the flight attendant likely had no idea what she was getting into. After the first wave of “shushes,” she can be heard laughing and then apologizing on the intercom, clearly surprised. None of the shushers seemed to be overly uncivil, either.
Jake Bates then put his leg through the ball from 52 yards out and snuck it just inside the uprights to give the Detroit Lions their seventh straight win. They are now 8-1 on the season.
No doubt, the fact that Bates connected on the field goal made the flight a lot more bearable for everyone on board—especially the flight attendant. The riled-up fans could have easily blamed her for “jinxing” Bates on the play if he’d missed. Superstitions still run rampant among the NFL fandom, for good or evil.
The reactions on Twitter to the Lions supporters on the plane made the ordeal even funnier. BetMGM’s official Twitter account compared the situation hilariously to a watershed moment in the show Breaking Bad.
Flight attendant: *starts to speak*
The entire plane: pic.twitter.com/tTz2hthK9p
— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) November 11, 2024
Clearly, we’re not the only ones who are surprised that this amenity is offered on flights. In another reply, “Chandler Bing Parody” quipped how much the offering of live NFL games on flights speaks to humanity’s progression.
Watching NFL games while you're 30000 ft in the air,
Don't ever let anyone convince you mankind hasnt made progress.
— Chandler Bing Parody (@ChandlerBing_12) November 11, 2024
Lions fans are having fun right now, and why shouldn’t they? Detroit has started 8-1 for the first time in 70 years, when Bing Crosby and the Rat Pack still dominated Hollywood.
The Lions lost in the NFL championship that year in 1954. But they won the title in 1952 and 1953, and won their most recent crown three years later in 1957. The current Lions will hope they’re in store for a similar era of success here in the 2020s.
