Quarterback Matthew Stafford and six other Detroit Lions are out for the season after being struck by lightning last night.
Following a heartbreaking loss to the Seahawks on Monday Night Football, the team bus broke down three blocks short of the Lions' hotel in downtown Seattle. Rather than wait for a replacement bus, all 52 players decided to walk in the rain to their destination.
While walking on the sidewalk, seven separate bolts of lightning struck seven different players -- sending each to Seattle University Medical Center with season-ending burns on the hands, face, legs and torso.
“It was the strangest thing I had ever seen,” says Fraser Crane, who witnessed the incident from his apartment. “It was raining, but there were no thunderclouds in the sky. Then all of a sudden a series of lightning bolts rang out in a matter of seconds.
“They were so precise. It’s almost as if God was purposely trying to hit certain targets.”
Aside from Stafford, the other six players hit were linebacker DeAndre Levy, receivers Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate, running back Ameer Abdullah, defensive end Ziggy Ansah and backup QB Dan Orlovsky.
In one fell swoop, the Lions have now lost nearly all of their elite players and are without a single healthy quarterback on the roster.
Although the freak accident may seem odd to many observers, it is merely par for the course with the Lions - who have started the season 0-4 and who have lost two of their last five games due to poor officiating.
”I can’t say I’m shocked,” says one Detroit fan. “All our best players struck by lighting? Sounds like the same old Lions.”
It later emerged that the driver of the bus had simply forgot to fill the tank with gasoline. He has apologized to the team for the inconvenience.
Stafford and his teammates are currently listed as stable, and are expected to be released sometime in the next few months. They may or may not be ready for the 2016 season.
