Cleveland won a pro sports championship and the Chicago Cubs broke a 108-year World Series championship drought this year. Weird things are happening. Maybe we shouldn’t dismiss the Detroit Lions just yet.

Let’s run down the Lions’ history again. The Lions haven’t won a playoff game since the 1991 season. That was their only playoff win since 1957. Detroit has never made the Super Bowl. The other three teams to not make the Super Bowl are the Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars. The Browns’ first NFL season was 1950 (or 1999, for the current iteration), Jacksonville was an expansion team in 1995 and the Texans’ first season was 2002. The Lions have been plugging away since 1930 – a 65-year head start on the Jags and 72 years on the Texans – when they were the Portsmouth Spartans. And they still haven’t figured it out.

This is why the Lions are never mentioned as Super Bowl contenders.

There’s also the way the Lions have reached 8-4 this season. Through 11 games this season they did not have one dominant win. In six of their wins, they trailed or were tied with 90 seconds left in regulation. In another win, they trailed the Jacksonville Jaguars at home in the fourth quarter before rallying. Read that sentence again.

Football Outsiders had the Lions, who were in control of the NFC North coming into Week 13, as the NFL’s 25th ranked team in their DVOA per-play metric before Week 13. The defense hadn’t shown much, and the Lions have no running game to speak of. Their success has been built off Matthew Stafford playing well and winning a ton of close games. That has vaulted them into first place, and it has been a fun season for the Lions, but that isn’t the foundation of a championship contender.

Then on Sunday, the Lions looked like a different team. They blew away an opponent for the first time all season. They beat the Saints 28-13 in a game that was never in doubt. The Lions’ defense, which has been average at best all season, was fantastic. They forced Drew Brees into three interceptions and the Saints scored only one touchdown at home, where they usually score at will.

It’s hard to believe that the Lions transformed into a new team based on one good game. But teams have reinvented themselves late in the season and won it all. The 2006 Indianapolis Colts suddenly became a competent run defense without any warning. The 2012 Baltimore Ravens were average at best in the passing game during the regular season, then Joe Flacco had one of the best postseasons ever. The 2011 New York Giants were mediocre in just about every single way until the playoffs, when they suddenly got hot and won four games.

So it can happen. Strange things happen in single-elimination playoffs. It’s still hard to believe that the Lions are a legitimate contender, however, if they’re not then who is? Even the few teams considered Super Bowl contenders (is that list just five deep? Six, maybe?) are flawed. It’s the perfect year for a team to come out of nowhere and steal a championship.

I don’t believe it will happen for the Lions. There’s still a chance they blow a two-game lead in the NFC North to the Packers. But I wasn’t buying the 2011 Giants winning a Super Bowl either.

Maybe the Lions can make a magical run. After all, it’s the year for long sports droughts ending.

Matthew Stafford has led the Lions to an 8-4 record. (AP) More

Here are the power rankings after Week 13 of the NFL season:

32. Cleveland Browns (0-12, Last week: 32)

The Browns claimed former Cardinals first-round pick Jonathan Cooper off waivers in October and he’ll start for them at right guard on Sunday. It’s the kind of low-risk move that could pay off for the Browns. Cooper was the seventh overall pick of the 2013 draft for a reason.

31. San Francisco 49ers (1-11, LW: 31)

So much for the strides the team and Colin Kaepernick seemed to be making over the past few weeks.