“When you have a good friend that really cares for you and tries to stick in there with you, you treat them like nothing. Learn to be a good friend because one day you’re gonna look up and say I lost a good friend. Learn how to be respectful to your friends, don’t just start arguments with them and don’t tell them the reason, always remember your friends will be there quicker than your family. Learn to remember you got great friends, don’t forget that and they will always care for you no matter what. Always remember to smile and look up at what you got in life.” — Marilyn Monroe

Shocking.

Disgusting.

Disgraceful.

I couldn’t believe my beloved Detroit Lions squandered a 15-2 season, a first-ever consecutive NFC North title, and a No. 1 NFC seed in an embarrassing 45-31 loss to a rookie quarterback-helmed Washington Commanders.

The Lions played their worst game of the season when they needed to play their best.

Yes, we lost yet another defensive player early in the first quarter. And, yes, most of our defensive starters remained on the injured list.

But we still had pretty much all of our high-powered offense, and they played like they didn’t belong in the playoffs.

We had more passing yards, more rushing yards, and more average yards-per-play, and we outscored Washington in the first and third quarters.

But we also had five turnovers, including three interceptions and a fumble by our stud quarterback, Jared Goff, and an ill-advised interception thrown by wide receiver Jameson Williams on a trick play. Washington capitalized on pretty much all of those turnovers.

We had no defense, and Washington had a good one. Our offense just couldn’t find the rhythm that has sustained them all season.

The odds-makers had us going to and probably winning the Super Bowl — something generations of Detroit fans have waited for — but Washington and their cool-as-a-cucumber QB sent us packing — from our home field, no less — in our first playoff game of the year.

And now our star offensive coordinator, who designed so many of those trick plays that wowed us all season, is off to coach the Bears and our stellar defensive coordinator, who kept us in the game despite losing almost all of his weapons, will probably end up in another town, too.

The band is breaking up, and that scares me.

I went to bed a week ago sick to my stomach.

I couldn’t bring myself to watch any football on Sunday. I’d really wanted to watch the Bills clobber the Ravens, but I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t watch the college football championship game. I have a football game I play quite often on my phone, and I couldn’t bring myself to even open the app.

Even thinking about football triggered bad memories and nausea.

But …

As I write this a few days later, I’m wearing one of my many Lions T-shirts. Those shirts (and some Lions socks and a Lions tie) will stay in my closet and remain a big part of my wardrobe rotation.

And I will continue to chant Jared Goff’s name.

And I will continue to love running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. They’ll remain my favorite players in the league.

And I will cheer loudly when sac-master Aiden Hutchinson takes the field again next season after missing most of this season with a broken leg.

I believe head coach Dan Campbell will lead his team back to another winning season, another playoff run, another chance at the NFC Championship game and the Super Bowl, because he teaches them grit and how to dust themselves off and pick themselves up and bite kneecaps as they rise.

The Lions have given me so much joy over the years. So much heartbreak, too, of course, but they’ve given me something to root for even when I felt like I had nothing else. They’ve brought me closer to my grandfather, closer to my father-in-law, closer to my brothers-in-law, closer to my brother, closer to my son, and closer to my friends over the years as we’ve hung out and watched the Lions.

The Lions have meant so much to me, and I won’t abandon them because of one bad game (even though that game was so dang important).

Difficult as it was, I and my son and my wife put on our Lions gear the day after the game because my pastor wore his Lions jersey at the pulpit as he explained that we can’t abandon what we believe in the first time it gets tough.

We can’t give up on our friends the first time they fail to live up to our expectations.

We have to stick with them.

Football’s just a game and the Lions have no clue who I am, but there’s a lesson in there about life, too.

So I will root for Washington through the Super Bowl (because, if we have to lose, let’s at least lose to the eventual Super Bowl champs).

But, come next August, I will stand again and I will shout, “Jared Goff! Jared Goff! Jared Goff!”

Justin A. Hinkley can be reached at 989-354-3112 or jhinkley@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @JustinHinkley.