Detroit Lions prove they can bounce back from a bad loss, show world they aren't frauds

As midnight approached Monday, Jerry Jacobs stood in a joyous locker room after the Detroit Lions dismantled the Las Vegas Raiders and quieted the talk about beings frauds after last week’s faceplant in Baltimore.

“Eh, man, we knew we were for real,” the Lions cornerback said. “So we just wanted to show the world we for real. We know what we’re coming with, we know what we got in here, and the coaches do, too.”

What the Lions have is a 6-2 record near the midpoint of the season as they prepare for their bye.

What they also have — as underscored by coach Dan Campbell after a 38-6 loss to the Ravens — is a resilient team that wasn’t going to backslide for a national audience and turn into those Same Old Lions we’ve seen so many times before.

The 26-14 victory over the 3-5 Raiders was probably closer than it should have been, when you consider the extra day of rest the Lions had, plus playing at home, plus the quality of opponent. Jimmy Garoppolo is the team’s quarterback, for goodness sake.

The Lions did lots of good, if not great, things. Rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs broke out with 152 rushing yards and a touchdown, plus five catches for 37 yards. Amon-Ra St. Brown had 108 receiving yards. The offense was 42.9% on third down. And the defense had six sacks and allowed just 157 yards. Again: Garoppolo.

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But the Lions lost two fumbles, Jared Goff threw a bad pick-six, and the offense went 1-for-5 in the red zone and Riley Patterson missed a 26-yard field goal.

It all adds up to the kind of game the Lions wouldn’t win against a good team. But what matters more is that it was enough one week after the Lions gave everyone a reason to believe they were frauds.

Campbell arrived at his news conference the day after the Ravens game agitated, frustrated and angry.

“I just know the frustration and anger that I have, that motivates me,” he said then. “And I’m pretty sure it does with our players. So we will be ready for this game, we will be ready. We will physically, emotionally, we will be ready for this game.”

And they were.

“I think it speaks to the clarity of our team identity,” left tackle Taylor Decker said. “Like we know what we are and we know what kind of football we should be playing.

“And maybe there's gonna be some hiccups along the way, but ultimately we're gonna get back to that standard.”

The reason for returning to that standard is Campbell, who deserves praise for making good on his efforts to not let the Baltimore debacle snowball.

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“I mean look, it feels good to know that there again I just go back and think about our identity didn’t show through last week,” he said Monday night. “That was not us. I didn’t feel like that was us. That was not us. Ultimately you just, you believe enough and all right let’s get back to what we do and that is the sole focus.”

Let’s be honest. If anyone had said before the season that the Lions would be 6-2 and the No. 2 seed in the NFC entering the bye, there isn’t a person in Detroit who wouldn’t have taken that in a heartbeat.

“Yeah, it’s good,” Campbell said. “I mean it’s a good spot to be in. Wins are hard to come by in this league and anything is up for grabs in the NFC right now.

“And our focus right now is our own division and so we get another win, and we help our own cause. And then now we got a chance to heal up, we’re going to get some guys back after the bye that are important to us, important pieces.”

The funny thing is that Campbell’s message of focus has sunk in a little too well for some players who know they’re nowhere near the finish line. Decker is one of those players who refused to say he felt good about the team’s record.

“No, because the season is not over,” said Decker, who has only been to the playoffs once in seven previous seasons. “I've seen it before where you can have a good half of the season and the second half it may not be the same.

“So I feel like if I answered yes to that question it would nurture some complacency. That's just not what I want to be about.”

It’s fair to say that halfway through this season, as the Lions track toward a division title and their first home playoff game at Ford Field, this is a resilient team that knows how to respond to setbacks.

“I know this team, and they respond,” Campbell said. “Does that 100% mean that you’re always going to win? No, but it does mean that you have a pretty good feeling of when your team will bounce back and be ready to take the challenge.

“I’m proud of everybody. I’m proud of all the guys.”

It’s hard to say how far this resilience will take the Lions. All you can say right now is that it’s taken them one step away from the very top of the conference. It’s a pretty good place to be and somewhere this team hasn’t been for a very long time.

Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions bounce back from a bad loss and prove they aren't frauds