Jeff Seidel

Detroit Free Press Columnist

“Let’s go Lions!” the fans in Ford Field chanted, as the clocked ticked down. “Let’s go Lions!”

It was another deafening, delirious Motown Miracle.

Another wild comeback, with all the classic elements that we have come to expect from this team. The cool magic from Captain Comeback, Matthew Stafford. The huge defensive play – this time, it was an interception by Darius “Big Play” Slay. And now, Matt Prater lined up for 40-yard field goal, as the fans in Ford Field took it to another level – “LET’S GO LIONS! LET’S GO LIONS!”

Prater, as he has done so many times in his career, calmly split the uprights, as time expired and the Lions beat the Vikings, 16-13.

It’s like this team is living inside that movie, “Groundhog Day,” where everything gets repeated over and over and over again.

It was this team’s seventh fourth-quarter, come-from-behind victory, and every single one of these games has looked the same: There was the drive, the field goal and the huge defensive play or, at least, some variation of those things.

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And now, the first-place Lions have control of the NFC North and are racing toward the playoffs. If the Lions do their job the rest of the way, especially if they win the games they should win at home against the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, they will be playing a playoff game in Ford Field in January for the first time since the 1993 season, which ended with a heartbreaking 28-24 wild-card loss to Brett Favre and the Packers.

“Obviously, we’re in a decent position,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. “But they don’t hand out trophies and things of that nature after a win like we’ve had.”

How is this team doing this? It’s a mind-set and attitude. “I do think our group plays loose and aggressive,” Caldwell said. “That’s kind of how we try to keep it. You can’t play a ballgame uptight.”

How did the Lions play through the first three quarters of this game? Oh please. As if that matters.

Let’s skip ahead to the fourth quarter. Because that’s when this team comes alive; that’s when this team does its best work, under the most pressure.

So the Lions were losing 13-10 in the fourth, just as they have trailed in every other game this season.

OK, time to wake up. And it all started with the tackle.

On third-and-3, with less than 6 minutes to play, Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford hit Jerick McKinnon, who looked like he would pick up the first down, but was tackled by Josh Bynes. That tackle was huge. It set up everything. It forced a punt – granted, it was a tremendous punt – as Jeff Locke nailed a 57 yarder and pinned the Lions at their own 2.

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OK. So 98 yards is a long ways to go. But the Lions only needed a field goal to tie it. And Stafford had 5:02 left. That's an eternity.

“Our mind-set is go score,” Stafford said. “Go take the lead.”

Coming out of the end zone, Stafford showed off his guts, finding Golden Tate.

Then, Stafford showed off his arm strength, as the pocket collapsed and he was getting engulfed, but he found Anquan Boldin for 29 yards (Boldin was fantastic with seven catches for 69 yards).

Then, Stafford showed off his poise, hitting Marvin Jones for 15 yards.

Then, he showed off his cool under pressure – obviously, Stafford feels comfortable in this type of moment -- hitting Boldin for another 9.

The drive bogged down and Prater hit a 48-yard field goal with 1:45 left, tying the game, 13-13.

The Vikings got the ball back and appeared to pick up a first down on third-and-2, but they were called for an illegal formation, which might have been the biggest turning point of this game.

On the next play, quarterback Sam Bradford was intercepted by Slay.

Kill the clock. Kick the ball. Game over.

“We have been working at it all week,” Slay said, “GQ (Glover Quinn) makes the call, so GQ made a great call, put is in great position and I made the play.”

Yes, they made the plays once again. That’s been the story of this season.

Flip a couple of plays in this game and the Lions would have lost. Flip a handful of plays this season and Caldwell would be sitting on a hot seat that would be sizzling.

But that is a moot point.

This team has found a way to win, coming from behind, once again.

The only way it knows how to win.

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.