After blowing a 21-0 lead, scoring all of 3 second half points, and having to desperately hold on to beat the Minnesota Vikings 34-28, the media/fan meme of the day is "The Detroit Lions were lucky to win."

I knew the Worst Columnist in the World would chime in about luck...

No damn kidding they were lucky.

But allow me point something out. Yes, the Lions were lucky, thanks to a blown face mask call which wasn't called on Deandre Levy. But how often could anyone say "The Lions were lucky to win" over over the past decade? Not often, if it all in the Millen era/post-Millen hangover years. How about the past 5 decades? So-called lucky wins are few and far between. 

I get it. It was a penalty.

There may have been a small handful, but the losses have run together into a giant ball of suck, and the Lions being a consistently winning organization was so long ago, it's hard to think of many. After wracking my brain, 2 lucky wins came to mind.

There was the infamous Thanksgiving Day coin toss game against the Steelers in 1998, getting the ball first in OT when they didn't deserve it. Regardless of being on the receiving end of Phil Luckett's brain fade, the Lions still had to drive the field for a game winning Jason Hanson field goal. So some luck was involved...yet not completely.

Jerome Bettis: "Heads-tails!"

To go back to the last time the Lions got the benefit of an end-of-game referee blown call, I have to go back to the "Eddie Murray kicks a game winning field goal with 12 men on the field" against Dallas in 1981.

Stop the clip at 0:22, and count the number of Lions.

As you can see in the video, the Lions did their damnedest to shoot themselves in the foot, and all but hand the win to the Cowboys. Expecting a last gasp Hail Mary, there were 3 receivers spread out wide left, players running on and off the field like the proverbial (Chinese, American, whatever) fire drill, ultimately ending up with 12 men lining up for a 46 yard attempt...which Murray drilled, giving the Lions a wild 27-24 victory.

It was so confusing, neither the Cowboys, refs, announcers, fans...or even the Lions themselves, knew what the Hell was happening. No wonder the refs missed the too many men on the field call.

Even back in 1981, expecting the Lions to get screwed one way or another had already become deeply ingrained in my football loving soul. I expected the worse. But after the fact, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle could only say, ''I'd like to congratulate all 12 or 13 who participated in the winning field goal.''

Over the many years, the Lions have had their share of luck...all bad. I admit saying so is a cliche, but it's painfully true. Rarely has this franchise been the beneficiary of good luck. It's refreshing the Lions actually were in position to take advantage of good luck, instead of watching the opposition reap the benefits of a missed call or bad bounce.

Though I do somewhat feel for Vikings fans, who have to be one bitter group tonight (Welcome to Lions fandom circa 2006!), a win is a win, be it lucky or deserved.

Tomorrow I'll worry about the ramifications of what went down against the Vikings. The silly penalties, injuries piling up in the secondary, allowing Joe Webb to look like a poor man's Tim Tebow (or is Tim Tebow a poor man's Joe Webb?), and having to badly struggle tio beat a team destined for the Andrew Luck lottery, to name only a few.

Tonight, I'd rather revel in the fact the Lions only need one win to get into the playoffs...

As they say in sports circles, "Scoreboard!"