News Photo by Steve Schulwitz A group of local Lions fans — from right to left, Bob Case, Alpena Mayor Cindy Johnson, Paul Lechner, and another fan — pose for a photo Friday night at Culligan Plaza after sharing their thoughts on the team’s success this season and cheering for a win that would propel Detroit to its first-ever Super Bowl appearance.

ALPENA — A handful of long-suffering Detroit Lions fans met at Culligan Plaza in downtown Alpena on Friday afternoon to show their support for the team and celebrate its recent success.

The Lions are one game away from going to the team’s first-ever Super Bowl, but must defeat the NFC’s No. 1 seed San Francisco 49ers in San Francisco to punch their ticket to the championship game, which will be played in Las Vegas on Feb. 11.

Detroit won the NFC North this year with a 12-5 record and defeated the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Ford Field in Detroit to put them on the cusp of the big game.

For many years, Lions fans have known nothing but heartbreak, including a winless season in 2008.

The Alpena fans, called to the plaza by a News reporter, were nervous Friday night, but confident the team will advance to the final game of the 2023-24 season and hang its first-ever Super Bowl banner in the rafters of Ford Field.

Bob Case went to his first Lions game at the old Briggs Stadium in 1958, the year after the Lions won its last championship, before the Super Bowl era. That game was outdoors, it was cold, and there was a snowstorm.

Case said that, since then, there were a lot of years when the team was not good and more times when the team was average but had at least one or two star players.

Case said the team’s success this year makes him think about his father. He said that, over the decades, it was nearly impossible for him to go to more games, but he said his children took him to a Thanksgiving game a few years ago.

“This whole thing has really made me think about my dad,” Case said. “It’s not like the Lions were always bad, but they were just never good. I have to give them a chance Sunday. It is a great story and it has been a great year.”

Paul Lechner grew up in Indianapolis but lives in Hubbard Lake now. He said he has been a Lions fan for many years and has witnessed the team’s ups and down, as well as the bad penalties, missed calls, and bad breaks the team has had for decades.

He credits head coach Dan Campbell with the team’s success and said that, if the team’s defense can bend but not break and limit the 49ers’ scoring chances, the Lions have a real shot at moving on to Vegas.

“Dan Campbell is exactly what this team needed,” he said. “He has the heart, has the team motivated. In football, everything has to gel, and that is what is happening this year.”

Alpena Mayor Cindy Johnson met the fans at the plaza and chatted with them about the team and the season. She said that, everywhere she goes in Alpena, people are buzzing about the prospect of the Lions going to the Super Bowl. She said even staff at City Hall had on their Lions gear on Friday to show support to the team.

“Lions fever has spread around the city,” Johnson said. “It has spread through the state, but, in Alpena, it is alive and well. It seems everyone everywhere is talking about the Lions.”

Johnson said the final couple games of the season have been stressful but exciting.

She said the emotions are shared between family members who have all been fans for years.

“Everyone’s nervous and on edge and that will continue every time they win and move on,” she said.

Johnson, Lechner, and Case say the Lions have a good chance at beating the 49ers and whoever they would play in the Super Bowl.

If that happens, it would be the first time the franchise has claimed the Lombardi Trophy.