DETROIT -- Detroit stopped Brett Favre cold. Well, in a crazy sort of way.

Insanity, as related to football, is well-documented in this city. They have supported the Detroit Lions, who haven’t won a championship since 1957 and most recently set numbing records for consecutive losses.

Bobby Ross used to drive around mumbling to himself. Barry Sanders retired much too soon. The “Millen Man March” happened here.

In that backdrop, Favre, most recently the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, came here to make history. His

in this Vikings “home” game moved to Ford Field because

following a snowstorm Sunday.

Welcome to the “D,” though it’s strange to see that dressed up Viking named Ragmar here, and the Vikings’ logo on the field.

Maybe, it’s just this: Detroit hasn’t seen a quality football show too often, so when it looks like an interesting game is moved here and offered for free, insanity was sure to leak through.

Sure enough, fans lined up early in blankets for a 9 a.m. giveaway of 30,000 tickets for a 7:20 p.m. game between the Vikings and the New York Giants. It took less than an hour, and the tickets were gone.

And it was cold outside -- bitter cold, with temperatures in the teens.

Some scalpers, of course, abused the limit of four free tickets, then walked back through the long lines trying to sell them. Crazy stuff, all for a game that would end up with no Favre.

For the Detroit Lions, letting the Vikings use their stadium for a game is not a money maker. An NFL spokesman made it clear that Detroit was just being a good business partner. In fact, most of the financial details will be worked out later, and an interruption of business insurance policy will kick in to help defray costs for staff, security, etc.

In the end it was a football game, and on that level memorable before it started because of who didn’t start.

It was also the first Ford Field “Monday Night game,” albeit not the official one. Hey, the Lions haven’t been worthy of the Monday night special slot since Ford Field opened in 2002, or really since Sanders retired.

The Giants, of course, were just glad they found a place to play. Over the weekend they were stranded in the Kansas City airport because planes could not get to Minneapolis. Bored, they turned to making rookies sing, like in training camp.

The Vikings, well, they often win against Detroit, as in 21 of the past 23 times they have played. I’m sure coming to Motown sounded like a winner after 17 inches of snow collapsed their inflatable Metrodome roof.

Television trucks were already in Detroit following the Lions’ win against the Packers on Sunday. The Lions had texted the NFL offering help.

“Little did I know that would result in us hosting this game in just over 36 hours,” said Tom Lewand, president of the Lions.

The announced crowd was 45,910 in the 64,500-seat stadium, though it looked like more.

Still, it was clear Detroit likes football. It wasn’t quite the atmosphere of Super Bowl XL that was at Ford Field in 2006.

But it was warm inside, and the football was decent until the Giants pulled away late in the third quarter to win going away, 21-3.

Favre didn’t play, but Detroit football fans might get to see him play again.

He probably will be healthy enough by Jan. 2. The Vikings visit the Lions that day for the last game of the season, and perhaps, finally, Favre’s last game.

How crazy is that?

E-mail Greg Johnson: gjohnson@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/gregjohnsongrp