Upset among Detroit Lions loyal lingers days after bad call

Frustration continued to echo through the Detroit Lions fan base Wednesday, days after a bad call cost the team Saturday’s game.

“Was it a conspiracy? I’m not going to go that far,” said Windsor, Ont. resident and loyal Lions fan Derek Sylvester. “However, it was a bad call by the ref in the moment.”

Officiants overturned a two-point conversion by Detroit at the end of the game.

They called left tackle Taylor Decker for “illegal touching” despite Decker reporting himself as eligible to make the catch.

Apparently, however, refs marked the wrong player.

The NFL has reportedly downgraded the officiants responsible for the error ahead of the playoffs.

Sylvester, who co-hosts a podcast for Lions' fans and said he’s been once since he was a kid, happened to be down in Dallas for the game riding the rollercoaster of emotions right inside AT&T Stadium.

“They scored that two-point conversion and you could see the Dallas fans deflate and the Lions fans rise up,” he said. “We’re high-fiving and screaming and next thing I know somebody says there’s a flag.”

Sylvester said the action taken by the league was enough to satisfy him but bitterness lingers in the fan base.

Commuters in the Metro Detroit area Wednesday morning saw billboards emblazoned in Honolulu Blue reading “Decker Reported.”

It was paid for by anonymous parties.

It was a hot topic on AM800s ‘The Morning Drive’ with Mike and Lisa, where cohost Mike Kakuk was not shy about his devotion to the team.

And he’s not the only one in the region.

“A lot of us here in Windsor-Essex are closer to Ford Field than people in Metro Detroit who are travelling from the different suburbs,” Kakuk told CTV News Windsor Wednesday.

He said it’s an especially sore spot for Lions fans because the team has been doing so well this season.

Still, he said it’s all part of the fun.

“The beauty of sports is that people are passionate about it, but really in the long run it doesn't matter,” he said. “It's an escape for people and this is part of the escape.”