He acknowledged the stigma of Same Ol’ Lions and embraced the magnitude of winning a Week 18 game at Lambeau Field against the mighty Green Bay Packers, and now that his Detroit Lions have slayed both those dragons, Dan Campbell is setting his sights on something new.
Campbell said what everyone was thinking late Sunday night after the Lions beat the Packers, 20-16, to end their bully’s reign on the playground that is the NFC North (and perhaps send their chief tormentor, Aaron Rodgers, out of the division for good): That the Lions will be gunning not just to make the playoffs next season but to end their three-decade-long drought without a postseason victory.
“There’s so many things and it all comes with winning, but yeah, I wanted to be part of building a brand-new brand,” Campbell said. “And so I like that, and that’s the point. But I also know, you want to do that, man, you really got to get in the dance. You got to get in the tournament, and then you got to make some waves in the tournament. So that’s the next step.”
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The Lions were the feel-good story of the 2022-23 NFL season.
They went 9-8 to finish with a winning record for the first time since 2017. They won eight of their final 10 games after an ugly 1-6 start. They had the best division record (5-1) of any team in their division. And if the NFL playoffs were decided by popular vote, they and their Hard Knocks-starring coach would deservingly have a spot in the field.
The Lions took a major step forward this season by anyone’s measure, and after four straight last-place finishes in the division, that’s something to celebrate.
Until recently the whipping boy of the NFL, the Lions earned widespread respect across the league this year for their style of play, resilience and approach to the game.
That’s important. It’s the foundation of everything Campbell has built in Detroit.
But some point soon — perhaps next winter — it won’t be enough.
“Unfortunately, we have to wait a little bit to see what it looks like next year, but like I kind of hit on, the culture is here, the pour is here, the foundation is built,” Lions quarterback Jared Goff said Monday. “It’s there. It’s all there, now it’s just about people falling into place and doing their jobs consistently and our expectations and standards continuing to rise.”
The Lions have raised the bar enough, even without making the playoffs, that they will be a fashionable pick to win the division next season for the first time since 1993 (when it was still called the NFC Central).
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This year’s champs, the Minnesota Vikings, are a house of cards, even if they have one of the best records (13-4) in the NFL. The Packers may or may not have Rodgers, their four-time MVP quarterback, next season, and even if they do they have myriad holes to fill on their roster. The Chicago Bears had the worst record in the NFL this season. They have a dangerous quarterback, if you can’t stop the run, and should be able to parlay the first pick of April’s draft into extra capital to build their team. But they’re six or eight legitimate pieces away from contention.
The Lions, meanwhile, have the makings of one of the NFL’s most well-rounded rosters thanks to Campbell, general manager Brad Holmes and both their staffs.
Goff has answered most of the questions about his near-term future with his standout play the past two months. Campbell gushed Monday (and Sunday) that Goff is the perfect fit for the Lions, and Goff has talked and acted like he agrees.
“It feels great (to be appreciated),” he said. “No, it does. It feels great cause I’ve been on the flip side of that and to be in a place where you are appreciated, you feel good and again, I keep saying the same thing, but the people here, it’s just a special place and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Beyond Goff, who looks much more like a foundational piece than anyone (even his bosses) could have imagined a year ago, the Lions have other things on their side as they traipse towards — here it comes — championship contention.
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They have an empowering coach in Campbell who’s built unwavering buy-in from his players by trusting them in key situations when games are on the line. They have a young roster with rookies in Aidan Hutchinson, James Houston and Josh Paschal who look like fixtures on the defensive line; two talented and complementary receivers in Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, neither of whom is old enough to rent a car; and one of the best offensive lines and coaching staffs a Lions team has had in my lifetime.
On Monday, Campbell complimented all three of his coordinators for the role they played in Sunday’s win over the Packers. Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp convinced Campbell the Lions could keep talented Green Bay return man Keisean Nixon in check, then delivered with good field position. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn dialed up the right pressure to force Rodgers’ late-game interception. And offensive coordinator Ben Johnson schemed up the right calls late in the game on second-and-17 (a hook-and-lateral with St. Brown and running back D’Andre Swift) and fourth-and-1 (a Goff pass to DJ Chark).
The Lions could lose Johnson to the coaching carousel this offseason, and if it’s not this year it won’t be long after. But such are the perils of success.
On Monday, Campbell said he still has not forgotten his own mistakes this season — the regrettable field goal attempt in a Week 3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, in particular, that helped keep the Lions out of the playoffs.
But just as last year’s struggles paved the way for this year’s prospertiy, Campbell said there is a reason the Lions experienced the adversity they did this season only to emerge sunny-side up with everyone feeling good about their future.
He said he’s not sure why yet, but promised the answer will “show itself in time” like it always does.
“I do think (this season) can catapult you if you allow it to,” he said. “If we just say it, and say the words, and don’t put in the work that we did last year with the growth that has taken place, then we’ll be average. But I believe in the team, I believe in the chemistry, the identity of this team, and the work they put in, and so I really do believe we’re only going to grow and get better, and as that happening, we’re going to add more pieces, too. But ultimately, that’s what this was all about was eventually get into the tournament because once you get into the tournament, anything can happen.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.