(WWJ) - A new message is flashing above Metro Detroit highways as the Lions prepare to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Divisional round at Ford Field this weekend.
As WWJ's Mike Campbell reported on Thursday morning, "the mystery billboard-buyer strikes again" this time with the towering digital signs displaying the taunt "the Bucs stop here," referencing the upcoming NFL game.
The flashing messages, which have been displayed on billboards around Michigan, have gone viral on social media when they first mysteriously appeared days into the new year after the Lions' hotly disputed loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 30, 2023.
"They started with the 'Decker Reported' signs," Campbell explained. "That's the first billboard I recall after the snafu with the receiver not... reporting for the two-point extra conversion against Dallas. And then the billboard changed."
On January 5, WWJ's Charlie Langton reported the signs began flashing quotes that Lions head coach Dan Campbell made during a press conference a few days after the controversial game, containing the phrases "pure octane" and "controlled fury."
“I’m good, I woke up yesterday, I’m ready. I’ve got controlled fury, I’m ready to go,’’ Campbell had said on Jan. 1. “I’m absolutely ready to go, I don’t go the other way and the team won’t either.’’
At the time, Campbell said his priority was keeping his players from dwelling on the past and making sure they continue looking forward.
“We had plays to make, we didn’t make them. It’s a tight game, a good opponent, playoff-type atmosphere and you have to make that one extra play that we didn’t. We will use this as fuel,’’ Campbell added. “I got pure octane right now, I’m ready. ”
The freeway reflected those quotes and others until Thursday, Jan, 18, when the billboards -- or at least the one on I-I 96 at South Hill Road near the overpass just east of Milford Road in Oakland County -- displayed the new message with three claw marks through the Bucs name on the sign
"Nobody knows who's putting these billboards up," Campbell said. The signs only mention PF8 Anonymous Donor in the bottom right corner. "And if they do, they're not saying."
The signs are just one of the many ways Lions fans around Metro Detroit are showing their support towards a budding team eager to shed the moniker "Same Old Lions" after years of loss and disappointment.
Those attending Ford Field this past weekend set a new decibel record at the stadium as the Detroit Lions won their first playoff game in over three decades against the Los Angeles Rams, 24-23.
The crowd topped out at 133.6 decibels — or the equivalent of a 747 jet engine taking off.
In a press conference on Monday, Lions head coach Dan Campbell remarked that the fans were ready to go hours before the game even started, and never let up throughout the night.
“That was absolutely electric,” Campbell said of the environment at Ford Field. “And I think what’s crazy is, I was coming down for pregame warmups, and you could just feel it. It was humming. The building was humming. I swear you could feel the electricity down the tunnel.”