DETROIT (AP) — During Chad Sweet’s 33 years, the Detroit Lions have rarely given him anything to cheer about.

So on Sunday, he drove more than 60 miles from his home in Tecumseh to a downtown bar to join a pregame march demanding that the Lions fire president Matt Millen.

Like hundreds of others, he dressed in orange, like fans of the Cincinnati Bengals, the Lions’ opponent in their final home game of the season.

And like the rest of the crowd, the bar and the rally became an outlet for watching years of lousy football.

‘‘All of my life we haven’t had a whole lot to root for,’’ Sweet said. ‘‘We never really get over the hump. A lot of it seems to be ownership related or management related.’’

The march, sponsored by a local sports talk radio station, drew about 500 people at its start, but the crowd grew to about 1,000 as the fans walked the five blocks to Ford Field.