There is a long history of Buffalo and Detroit sharing inspiring personalities.

Joyce Carol Oates and Rick James, Bob Lanier and Pat LaFontaine.

You’ve easily traversed the path around Lake Erie, whether via Interstate 90 or Highway 401 in Ontario, and found familiar surroundings at the other end – another vibrant Rust Belt town kicked in the teeth, itself but can’t be turned around. They’re union towns, heavy drinking towns. They are poorer than most places their size. On the Canadian border there is Tim Hortons, a local cafe, and Labatt Blue is considered a local beer. Your sports teams are oxygen.

And the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions have put them at a disadvantage for generations.

Of course, there were successes: the Bills with their back-to-back AFL titles in the 1960s and four straight Super Bowl losses three decades ago, the Lions with their pre-JFK dominance and Barry Sanders’ brilliance to the point of great dysfunction stop.

Who could have thought that Buffalo and Detroit would play for the Lombardi Trophy?

“It would be a Super Bowl made in heaven,” said Mary Wilson, widow of Bills founder and Detroit businessman Ralph Wilson. “It would be great.”

A possible championship preview will be the main storyline on Sunday when two ringless franchises meet at Ford Field. The 12-1 Lions were betting favorites to win the NFC, while the 10-3 Bills fell to the second-best odds in the AFC last week, behind the Kansas City Chiefs, who beat the Bills last month.

Just three seasons ago, every fan base wanted to tie their head coach to a barge downstream. Lions coach Dan Campbell is the clear favorite to be named Coach of the Year. Bills coach Sean McDermott secured his fifth straight AFC East title with a month to play.

“There are so many similarities,” said John Beilein, a former basketball coach at Canisius College and the University of Michigan. Beilein, a lifelong Bills fan from nearby Burt, N.Y., is the Detroit Pistons’ senior advisor for player development.

“It’s amazing how these teams have developed. They all experienced a renaissance with their culture of being good, smart teams that don’t get ahead of themselves. Dan Campbell could run for mayor, governor and senator and he would win.”

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