Matthew Stafford’s Wife Kelly and 3 Daughters Adorably Cheer Him on for Season Opener

Matthew Stafford kicked off the 2020 season with the rest of his Detroit Lions teammates on Sunday and had the best set of cheerleaders wishing him good luck. Stafford’s wife Kelly went to Instagram to post a series of videos and photos of the couple’s three daughters wearing Lions cheerleader outfits outside Ford Field. Kelly was leading a cheer for Stafford while the daughters tried to follow.

“Thank goodness we aren’t allowed in, we need some serious practice before we are game ready,” Kelly wrote in her Instagram post. “Surprised Matthew outside the stadium before he went in with his cheer squad and it was a moment I will never forget. Here is to year 12! Football is BACK!” With Kelly being a former cheerleader at the University of Georgia, she will have the girls learning the cheer in no time. Also, with the couple welcoming a fourth child this year, the cheer squad will likely be bigger by this time in 2021.

Unfortunately, the cheer didn’t help the Lions earn their first win of the year, falling to the Chicago Bears 27-23. The Lions were up 23-6 in going into the fourth quarter, but the Bears scored 21 unanswered points for the come-from-behind victory. One of the notable players of the game was when Stafford took a sack in Bears’ territory late in the fourth quarter, which led to a missed 55-yard field goal by Matt Prater.

“Yeah, I probably could have thrown it away,” Stafford said to reporters after the game. “I think that would have made the field goal easier. We probably could’ve gotten another five yards on the next play and we’re in better range for him. I definitely wish I had thrown that one away.” The Lions had a chance to win the game later in the fourth quarter when Stafford found an open D’Andre Swift in the end zone with seconds left in the game. However, Swift, who played college football at Georgia like Stafford, dropped the pass.

“There’s plays we all wish we could have back. I can’t turn the ball over in the fourth quarter.,” Stafford said after the game, as reported by Sports Illustrated. “There’s no question about that. So it’s on everybody. We’re all there to pick him up.”