Dan Campbell paints masterpiece as Detroit Lions advance to NFC title game: 'Life's good'

He promised a tough team, a resilient team and, yes, a team that would bite off kneecaps. But most of all he promised “to make this team a winner.”

And three years to the day that he captivated the NFL and won over the city of Detroit with colorful imagery in his introductory news conference, Dan Campbell delivered.

Jahmyr Gibbs and Craig Reynolds scored rushing touchdowns in the second half and Derrick Barnes intercepted a late Baker Mayfield pass as the Detroit Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-23, in a divisional playoff game Sunday at Ford Field.

The Lions play the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC title game at 6:30 p.m. next Sunday at Levi’s Stadium for the right to go to the Super Bowl.

Campbell became the first Lions coach to win two playoff games in the same season since George Wilson in 1957, the last time the franchise won an NFL championship.

He called himself “fortunate” Sunday to be surrounded by “a lot of really outstanding people,” including general manager Brad Holmes, owner Sheila Hamp and his coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, and he said he saw this day coming when he made those memorable comments on Jan. 21, 2021.

“I envisioned that we would have a chance to compete with the big boys, and that’s where we’re at,” Campbell said. “All you’ve got to do is get in, and it’s about placing yourself in the very best position to where you can move. You get a home game and then maybe you get a second home game, and now all of a sudden it gets a little easier. If you’re able to get a one seed, you’ve only got to win two games. And so, that’s always the objective.

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“But ultimately, once you get in, then it’s about matchups and you find a way to win and you may have to win 2-0 and it’s OK. It’s OK. A win’s a win in the playoffs. So, here we are and now we get to go to San Francisco, and we know what kind of team that is, but we’re in a great position. We’ve got a great opportunity.”

The Lions advanced to the NFC championship game for the second time in the Super Bowl era Sunday, overcoming a slow start with big plays on both sides of the ball in the second half.

They went three-and-out three times and crossed midfield just twice on their first six full offensive possessions, not including a kneel-down snap at the end of the first half, then erupted for touchdowns on three straight possessions in the third and fourth quarters.

Reynolds scored on a 1-yard run on fourth-and-goal with 3:48 left in the third quarter to break a 10-10 halftime tie. The carry was his first since the Lions’ Week 8 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, and first ever in the postseason.

Tampa tied the game on the ensuing possession, before Gibbs answered with a 31-yard touchdown run. The rookie running back touched the ball four times on the Lions’ five-play possession, running for gains of 6 and 8 yards and catching a 12-yard pass before exploding for his second touchdown in as many postseason games.

Jared Goff threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown on the Lions’ next possession for a 14-point lead, and Barnes picked off a Mayfield pass intended for Cade Otton on Tampa’s final drive to seal the win.

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“Dan’s the greatest leader I’ve been around and has cultivated this culture we have and our belief in each other pretty significantly,” Goff said. “And yeah, you think about the dark times there early on in 2021, a lot of people calling for his head, a lot of people in this room calling for his head. And it's pretty good to be able to sit up here and be able to play in the NFC championship. And yeah, it feels good.”

Goff completed 30 of 43 passes for 287 yards and played a turnover-free game for the second straight week.

He and the Lions got off to a rocky start; they won the toss and took the ball but went three-and-out on the opening possession, then Goff nearly threw an interception in the end zone after C.J. Gardner-Johnson picked off Mayfield near midfield on Tampa’s opening drive.

But the Lions and Bucs went to the locker room tied at 10 after trading first-quarter field goals and second-quarter touchdowns before the Lions pulled away on the strength of their running game in the second half.

“We knew we needed to come out and throw it against this team,” Campbell said. “We needed to be efficient with the pass if we get some explosives. We weren’t able to do that, second half we were. And then we were able to lean on the run a little bit once we felt like, man, we could loosen them up and Gibbs breaks one there at the end. So, there’s your pivotal for us. But ultimately, we knew it was going to be that type of game. And it was, and that’s playoff football.”

Gibbs, who missed the Lions’ regular-season win over the Bucs with a strained hamstring, had 114 yards from scrimmage on just 13 touches Sunday after running for 17 yards on four carries in the second half.

He finished with 74 yards rushing on nine carries, and David Montgomery, who left the first Tampa game with a rib injury, had 10 carries for 33 yards as the Lions rushed for 114 yards as a team.

Tampa finished the regular season fifth in the NFL in run defense and held the Lions to a season-low 40 yards on the ground in the first game.

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“We felt like we were in the ball game all the way at the end, even up until the end,” Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said. “We fought back. We went down 17-10. We came back 17-17. They got two scores, we came back and scored, and all we had to do was get a stop earlier and try to move the ball down the field. Obviously, they won the turnover battle and it was just too much to overcome with a good football team.”

Mayfield finished 26 of 41 passing for 349 yards and three touchdowns and two interceptions, and Mike Evans caught eight passes for 147 yards and scored on a 16-yard pass in the fourth quarter for the Bucs.

St. Brown had eight catches for 77 yards for the Lions, who sacked Mayfield four times and stopped a two-point conversion attempt after Evans’ touchdown that would have made it a seven-point game.

“You want something the city can be proud of,” Campbell said, reflecting on his introductory speech from three years ago. “You can look at those guys and say, ‘Man, I can back that guy. I can back that team. I can resonate with those group of guys. They’re kind of salty. They don’t quit. They play hard.’ And so, I feel like we’ve done that. And I think these guys, they have a kinship with this city and this area and they love it, man. And ultimately, that’s what you want. Now, a year from now, two years, we’ll be getting booed maybe, that’s a whole other deal though. But right now, life’s good and I’m glad we could deliver that.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dan Campbell promised to make Detroit Lions ' winner;' he delivered Sunday