Fate can be a funny thing.

The Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams face off Sunday in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs at Ford Field in Detroit, three seasons after swapping quarterbacks in a trade that altered the trajectory of each franchise.

The two teams have been intertwined since their blockbuster trade Jan. 30, 2021, which sent Matthew Stafford to L.A. and catapulted it to a Super Bowl title a year later, and sent Jared Goff and three draft picks to Detroit, which helped kickstart its rebuild that resulted in the first division title in 30 years this season.

The Lions, following the conclusion of the 2020 season and coming off a 5-11 record, began a new direction after firing coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn during the season. Team owner Sheila Hamp brought in fresh faces with Brad Holmes from the Rams to run the team as GM and Dan Campbell from the New Orleans Saints to take over as coach.

Sensing another teardown, Stafford went to ownership and requested a trade, which was quickly granted during Holmes’ first few weeks on the job.

Here’s why, and how, it all went down:

Why did the Lions trade Matthew Stafford for Jared Goff?

Why deal your franchise quarterback? Here’s what our Dave Birkett wrote Jan. 23, 2021 in the Free Press:

“Frustrated by another lost season and hoping not to be part of another rebuild, Matthew Stafford approached the Detroit Lions after the season and suggested a trade might be in the best interests of both him and the organization. 

“Stafford brought his concerns to Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp and team president Rod Wood, a league source said, and the group decided to table those discussions until this week.

“When they reconvened on a phone call with new general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell, the Lions agreed to look into a trade.”

The Staffords had bought a house in Newport Coast, Calif., about two year prior to the Rams trade, and when his name first surfaced in trade rumors the previous winter, his wife, Kelly, made no secret of where she wanted to end up.

“Well if Detroit is done with us … I could stay in Cali,” she wrote in an Instagram story, over an article with a headline suggesting the L.A. Chargers were Stafford’s most likely trade destination.

After doing Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson wrong, the Lions did right by Stafford, Birkett wrote in the Free Press the morning after the trade broke.

Meanwhile, the Rams and coach Sean McVay had begun to sour on Goff despite reaching the Super Bowl two years prior. Goff had signed a four-year, $134 million contract extension in 2019 that the Rams suddenly wanted to rid themselves of. They wanted an upgrade at quarterback. They found one in Stafford.

Holmes, the Rams’ former director of college scouting, knew Goff well from their five years together in L.A. Holmes scouted him personally during Goff’s time at California, and advocated for a trade the Rams eventually made to leap up 14 spots to select Goff in the 2016 draft.

Five years later, Holmes bet big for a second time on Goff, and it has paid off.

Matthew Stafford trade compensation

The deal was simple, with each franchise dealing away its former No. 1 overall pick at quarterback.

The Lions received Goff, a 2021 third-round pick, and first-round picks in 2022 and 2023.

The Rams received Stafford.

However, the trade ended up having more far-reaching implications for the Lions’ roster, as Holmes used the extra draft capital to continue to add young contributors on both offense and defense.

2021 draft

The first draft pick to convey from L.A. was the third-round pick in 2021, No. 101 overall, which Detroit used to draft defensive back Ifeatu Melifonwu out of Syracuse. He played cornerback in his rookie season before moving over to safety in 2022.

Melifonwu was primarily a reserve in the secondary and a special teams contributor during his first two seasons but became a key part of the defense down the stretch this season. He played nearly every snap at safety over the final quarter of the season as the Lions dealt with injuries, and recorded three sacks and two interceptions in that stretch, earning NFC Defensive Player of the Week after a two-sack, one-interception performance against the Vikings to help clinch the division title. In Week 18, Melifonwu went back to splitting snaps in a three-man rotation after C.J. Gardner-Johnson returned from a torn pectoral injury.

Melifonwu was the only player the Lions stayed put to pick from the Rams’ draft slot. Holmes decided to use the two first-round picks from L.A. to facilitate trades to move up in the 2022 draft and move down in the 2023 draft, with both moves resulting in two players the Lions.

2022 draft

Holmes used the Rams’ first-round pick, No. 32 overall, and his own picks in the second and third rounds (Nos. 34 and 66) to move up to select wide receiver Jameson Williams out of Alabama at No. 12 overall in a deal with the Vikings. Detroit also received the No. 46 pick in the second round, which turned into Kentucky defensive end Josh Paschal.

Williams took a while to find his footing here thanks to injuries and a suspension. He missed the first 11 games of his rookie year recovering from a torn ACL suffered in his final college game and had one catch for 41 yards after his return. He also started his sophomore season on the bench, this time after being suspended the first four games for violating the NFL’s gambling policy, which came after missing parts of training camp with hamstring injuries. But Williams played in 12 straight games after the suspension, racking up 24 receptions for 354 yards and two touchdowns as he became more engrained into the offensive system, before missing the regular season finale with an ankle injury. He should be good to go vs. the Rams as the Lions’ speed element on the outside.

Paschal has also had to deal with injuries in his two years with the Lions, appearing in 22 of a possible 34 games. He has recorded 41 total tackles, seven for loss, and three sacks in his career.

2023 draft

The Rams briefly bottomed out after winning the Super Bowl, finishing the season 5-12 and sending over the No. 6 overall pick to Detroit. Holmes used the pick to trade down in the first round, sending the 6th pick and a third-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals, who selected offensive tackle Paris Johnson, in exchange for Nos. 12, 34 and 168. The 12th and 34th picks were both used on offensive weapons — Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta — who became instant key contributors on the offense, combining for 20 touchdowns this season. Holmes packaged the 168th pick with the 122nd and 139th picks to move up to select defensive tackle Brodric Martin at No. 96 overall at the end of the third round.

LaPorta had a record-setting season as a rookie tight end, finishing with the most receptions (89) in NFL history by a first-year tight end and finishing top five in yards (889) and touchdowns (10). But, he might not be available for the playoff game, after suffering a knee injury in Week 18, leaving him an “outside shot” at playing.

Gibbs has been the electrifying half of a running back tandem alongside David Montgomery, who was signed in the offseason as a free agent. Gibbs started relatively quiet in his first four games then missed back-to-back games with an injury, but finished strong to total the second-most yards by a rookie ball carrier this season, trailing Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson by 31 yards on 32 fewer carries, and the most touchdowns. Gibbs had 182 carries for 945 yards, averaging 5.2 yards per carry, and 10 touchdowns, and added 52 receptions for 316 yards receiving and a score.

Martin played sparingly due to being buried behind others on the depth chart at defensive tackle.

Final result

Stafford helped the Lions net Goff, Williams, Gibbs, LaPorta, Melifonwu, Paschal and Martin. Not bad, Brad, not bad. The Rams are quite pleased too, with a ring to show for it.

Birkett in May further broke down all the moving parts from the deal, which ended up involving eight teams and 30 players.