We wrote earlier in the NFL season about how a Cleveland Browns/Detroit Lions matchup in the Super Bowl was something we all should be rooting for—that didn’t happen once the Browns lost in the first round of the playoffs, but the Lions still had a very good chance to make it. Especially tonight, when they had a 24-7 halftime lead on the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, Detroit looked good.

This photo was taken as the 49ers prepared to kick off in the third quarter having scored a field goal to cut the lead to 24-10. Coincidentally, the game would change drastically in the next few minutes as the Detroit offense turned the ball over on downs, the San Francisco offense scored a touchdown, and the 49ers defense forced a Lions fumble before the home team tied the game up at 24-24 in a relative blink of an eye.

San Francisco would go on to win, 34-31, oddly reversing the karma of a playoff game between these two teams in 1957: in that game, to decide the Western Division, the 49ers were the ones that blew a 24-7 halftime lead to the Lions, eventually losing, 31-27, and making it sure it would be years before the S.F. team won another playoff game—let alone an NFL title. In fact, Detroit won that 1957 NFL Championship, too.

The Lions will win a Super Bowl someday, and maybe the 49ers will win another NFL title in two weeks. But tonight’s game is why we always say that even though the math is there for one outcome, anything can happen when you least expect it to happen. This is the way sports should be: strange highs and strange lows. That’s how our love goes ($1 to Depeche Mode) … maybe it never die—despite the liars and the dirty cheats.