Can you believe it? Detroit Lions reach NFC title game because they believe in each other
This one is for the old-timers. And the young-timers. And the loyalists who filled this stadium during dismal Decembers, heck, during the 0-16 December.
This one is for Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes and Shelia Hamp and Chris Spielman, yes. But it’s really for you, and for everyone who has ever loved this place, this swath of the world.
So, let’s say it together: The Detroit Lions are going to the NFC title game. They will play the San Francisco 49ers.
No, really. They are. So, let’s type that again: THE. LIONS. ARE. GOING. TO. THE. NFC. TITLE. GAME.
Not the Bucs, or the Eagles, or the Cowboys, or the Rams.
The. Lions.
Sunk in yet?
If it hasn’t, don’t worry. It’s been a while. Some 32 years, to be exact. A number you’ve heard for a while, no doubt.
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They are going to California because Derrick Barnes picked off Baker Mayfield to seal the win. They are going because, once again, Aaron Glenn’s defense bent, and then bent some more, and then held up. And, they are going because Holmes and Campbell built one of the best offensive rosters in the NFL.
Because they drafted Jahmyr Gibbs when some scoffed. Because they found Amon-Ra St. Brown in the fourth round. Because they doubled down on the one area that was solid when they took over three years ago: the offensive line.
Because they traded for Jared Goff. Boosted his confidence. Gave him a plan. And then gave him the ball.
As they’ve done all season, no matter the defense, or the scheme, or whether he has struggled early. They believed.
And he rewarded that belief yet again, this time against one of the league’s best defenses. And after a difficult first half, all Goff did was lead three touchdown drives in the second half, staying calm under relentless pressure, and delivering strikes.
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A three-and-out on the first drive of the game?
Goff wasn’t worried. Hasn’t worried.
Even if he throws a ball that should’ve been intercepted. He shakes it off.
Shoot, the whole team is like this. It starts with Campbell. Remember when he said his squad was perfectly scarred?
Well, you saw it here against Tampa. Again and again.
Like when St. Brown slipped a tackle and spun and appeared to have the first, but his elbow hit the turf 2 yards short of the first-down marker. Tampa sacked Goff on third down. And what looked like a promising drive stalled near midfield.
After a Lions’ punt pinned Tampa at its own eight with 1:27 left in the half, Rachaad White burst up the middle for 11 yards. The space loosened up the offense, and Mayfield.
He hit Trey Palmer for 9 yards, scrambled for 14, hit Mike Evans on a short ball for 27 yards, and then lofted one to Evans down the sideline for 29 more. In a flash, Tampa had first-and-goal from the 2, and scored on the next play.
Twice, the Lions had the ball and a touchdown lead in the first half with the chance to grab real momentum. The first time St. Brown dropped a third down pass that would’ve been a first had he held on. In fairness, a defensive back was barreling to hit him as he caught it and he glanced up to protect himself.
The second time was when his elbow hit the turf. This is what Tampa’s defense does, though, right? Yards after the catch are scarce, rushing yards even more so.
All of it leads to a brutally thin margin for error, and when a team is forced to be perfect for the length of the field the odds favor the defense, especially a defense with elite interior linemen and tough, swift, side-to-side linebackers.
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And yet, the Lions didn’t give up the plan and start trying to go over the top. As tough as it was to run, Campbell and Ben Johnson kept running, stayed patient, and got creative and gutsy within the run-pass balance.
Like the third-and-1 call midway through the third with the game tied at 10. The Lions were at their own 45 and instead of giving it to Gibbs or David Montgomery for a shot up the middle or off the edge, Johnson had Goff drop back and Brock Wright slip out to the left flat.
He was alone. And when he caught the ball, all he saw was green. So, he ran. Rumbled, really, and when he stopped, he’d picked up 29 yards, flipped the field, and reset the momentum.
Well, at least until the Lions stalled inside the 5, and faced a fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line. Campbell, who has gone for it all season, went for it again. Johnson sent Craig Reynolds in at running back.
He hit the only open sliver of space and powered into the end zone. It was a risky call in a low-scoring game when a field goal seemed more prudent.
But then that isn’t how Campbell coaches, or what he believes. Shoot, on the Lions’ drive late in the fourth quarter when they had a chance to run out the clock, he and Johnson called for a pass to St. Brown.
It’s not that he thinks he’s got a talent deficit that he can only overcome by gambling, it’s that he believes his guys can make plays, and he never wants them to forget it.
They haven’t. And here’s betting they won’t. Not today. Not next week in San Francisco, where the Lions will play in the NFC title game for the right to play in the Super Bowl.
Surreal?
Of course.
But it’s getting more real by the week.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions reach NFC title game because they believe in each other
