Detroit Lions Fall Victim to NFL Witching Hour Curse in Loss to Seahawks

The Detroit Lions fanbase was ready to plan a Super Bowl parade down Jefferson Avenue after the team's Thursday Night opening week win against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. Everyone was in blue ski masks and dining on kneecap soup. However, the world came crashing down around Detroit after an overtime loss to Seattle.

Call it the Same Old Lions or the curse of the NFL Witching Hour that struck the boys in Honolulu Blue.

The day opened with promise and a salute to Barry Sanders from whom a statue in his honor was unveiled outside Ford Field and former head coach, the beloved Wayne Fontes was in attendance.

The back and forth game was nearing the end of regulation and that is exactly when the NFL Witching Hour kicked in.

What is the NFL Witching Hour?

The concept of the NFL Witching Hour goes back a few decades but recently came to the forefront of fan consciousness after a debate over who coined the term.

The traditional witching hour - not football related - refers to the deepest of the overnight hours, 3:00-4:00 AM, when the most paranormal activity is likely to occur.

Flip the clock 12 hours to a Sunday and you get 3:00-4:00PM the final quarter-and-a-half, roughly, of the early slate of games. This is the window with the most games in progress during any given week. Thanks to whip-around TV coverage, exciting finishes seem to pop up at breakneck speed.

That is exactly what happened in the Lions - Seahawks game. A rally to force overtime by Detroit was ended in the OT period with a Seattle touchdown - on a play that may have had an egregious hold not called on the offense. But a final is a final - and that's exactly what a fan should expect during the Witching Hour.

So same old Lions or the Witching Hour curse?

Seattle closed out their Sunday witching hour victory with a little something for the Detroit fans, as Seattle's Jerrick Reed donned a blue balaclava to let the fans in the D know who the bad guy was on this day.