The Detroit Lions did not win the NFC North in the 2016 season. But if you were at a specific T.J. Maxx in Michigan recently, you had good reason to think otherwise.
A report from Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press said that the T.J. Maxx in Chesterfield Township “is selling what appears to be an officially licensed NFL T-shirt” identifying the Lions as the NFC North champions in 2016.
Of course, the Green Bay Packers were, in fact, the NFC North champions in 2016. Green Bay clinched that championship with a Week 17 win over Detroit. The buildup to that game was apparently when the shirts were printed.
“As you know, it is a fairly common practice that vendors print team sports t-shirts in advance of an important game anticipating a winning outcome,” Doreen Thompson, vice president of global communication for the TJX Companies, said, per Birkett. “In this instance, we believe that one of our vendors may have inadvertently included the Detroit Lions t-shirt in with other goods intended for our local area stores.”
Thompson also said that the shirts can be exchanged for a full $4.99 refund. Of course, for only $4.99, it might be worth it just to keep the shirts as collectors items.
The Lions enter the 2017 season in search of their first division title since winning the then NFC Central in 1993.