As I watched in amazement Saturday evening, I began to wonder if the Detroit Lions are the Green Bay Packers for this year’s playoffs.

It seems like more and more Wild Card teams are getting to the Super Bowl and in some instances, like the Packers last year, winning the National Football League championship.

I remember being laughed at before the season began when I was telling people that Detroit was a playoff team right now.

They told me I was crazy and the Lions were still at least a year away from being a playoff contender.

While I didn’t agree with the talking heads on television that were saying they could challenge the Packers for the division championship, I felt they could finish second in the division and qualify for the playoffs as a Wild Card.

As it turns out, I was right on both counts.

But I’m not here to tell you I was right and many of my friends were wrong.

I am here to talk about how well the Lions are playing as they head into the post season.

Like last year’s Green Bay team, Detroit may be getting hot again at the right time.

The Packers didn’t look much like a Super Bowl championhip team for much of the 2010-11 season, but came on at the end of the year and were unstoppable in the playoffs.

I’m not sure that the Lions are as good as the Packers were last year, but I do know that a lot of teams don’t want to have to face them in the first round.

This is not the same type of Detroit team that in the past has been one and done in the post season. That doesn’t mean if the Lions get say New Orleans in the opening round that they won’t get beat.

What I am saying is that the Lions are a dangerous football team that can score in a lot of ways, including defense.

Whomever the Lions end up with in the first round of the playoffs, that team better take Detroit seriously and be prepared for a war.

The Lions have been very good at times this season and been very bad, which is the mark of a young football team. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a very young football team that is still going through the process of winning games, especially big games.

I’m not so sure they can get to the Super Bowl and win it the way Green Bay did last season. That was a much more seasoned football team.

But I know that sometimes when a team is young, it doesn’t get caught up in being nervous about games because they just don’t know enough to be worried.

Either way, it’s going to be great watching the Lions play football in January.