Now that the football gods have finally stopped laughing at the Detroit Lions and started smiling on them, now that the gridiron gods have awoken from their 32-year slumber (or put aside their 32-years grudge, if you prefer), now that everything is going the Lions’ way, I have a subtle and nuanced suggestion for them.

DON’T BLOW THIS!

The Lions simply can’t waste this golden opportunity after everything they’ve worked to achieve and every fortunate turn that has put them in position as the NFC’s No. 3 seed to host a second playoff game at Ford Field and face an unspectacular Tampa Bay Buccaneers team led by a castoff quarterback who’s had more success as a pitchman than a pigskin chucker.

Sorry, but Baker Mayfield is, as the kids say, mid.

How else do you explain the No. 2 seed Dallas Cowboys imploding? How do you explain the No. 5 seed Philadelphia Eagles imploding? How do you explain the no-call on a blatant pass-interference penalty by Cam Sutton on Puka Nacua that pretty much handed the Lions a victory over the Rams?

Well, either the football gods have a gambling problem or someone spiked their Honolulu Blue Kool-Aid.

Regardless, the Lions are now one win — ONE WIN — from playing for the right to go to the Super Bowl. And if this kind of fortune continues, the Green Bay will knock off San Francisco on Saturday and the Lions will kick off Sunday knowing they can host the NFC title game next week against the Packers.

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I asked Dan Campbell on Wednesday if he has allowed himself to think about what the opportunity that beating the Bucs represented.

“No, not that in depth with it,” the Lions coach said. “It’s more — I’m so much into the mode now and I want us thinking, ‘It’s the next one.’ ”

Campbell wants his team focused, as always, on the immediate task and the game plan for the Bucs. Hey, it’s been a winning formula all season, after all.

“I think it’s very much business as usual,” he said. “I think it’s too early to start getting there. I think that’s where you’ve got to be careful, you get complacent.

“I think that’s great for everybody to feel good and love where we’re at. But for us, we can’t. We’ve got to just stay on the tracks here.”

I asked Jared Goff a similar question about the chance to move on, since he has lots of experience advancing in the playoffs. Last week he got questions about how the team would handle a big playoff game for the first time, and he figures they’ve proved they’re ready for more.

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“I’m happy I don’t have to answer that question anymore because we won a big game and these guys can handle all this,” the Lions quarterback said. “So it’d be the same thing with this week is, yeah, it’s another big game, it’s another playoff game and these guys have played in big games. We just won a big game last week and we’ll be ready to go.”

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They had better be. I’m ready to declare this season a success for the Lions right now, no matter what happens against the Bucs. They won their first division title in 30 years, won their first playoff game in 32 years and won 12 games for only the second time in franchise history.

But if they blow a chance to advance to the NFC title game for only the second time in team history with the advantage of playing at home with a nearly 100% healthy roster against Mayfield, who’s on his fourth team in three years, then that qualifies as a major failure and disappointment.

Then left tackle Taylor Decker, the longest-tenured Lion on the roster, said something that convinced me his team won’t blow it Sunday.

“I think the big thing to keep into perspective is what got us here at this point,” he said. “And it's just going out there being ourselves as players every single day and putting the work in.

“And ultimately we know our coaching staff is gonna put us in the best position to succeed. And we're at the point where we get to play in this game because we earned it.”

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But the best part of Decker’s answer was his honesty about allowing himself to think and dream about the ultimate goal: a Super Bowl championship. After all, dreams drive us to achieve anything worthwhile.

“I think when you have goals like that in mind,” he said, “you always dabble in it, you know? You always dip your toe in the water.

“But you have to keep it in perspective of what's right in front of you, because of course you can go out there and if you lay an egg then it doesn't matter.”

I can’t imagine the Lions laying an egg on Sunday. But more importantly, I don’t think the football gods can, either.

Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions can't blow it Sunday as stars align in NFL playoffs