Detroit Lions' run to NFC championship game can't be denied by refs' non-call

Free Press columnist Carlos Monarrez tackles three tough questions after the Detroit Lions’ 31-23 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at Ford Field:

How have the Lions gotten one step away from the Super Bowl?

The Lions’ divisional-round victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has put them in the NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, California, next week, which is a lot of words to say they’re one win away from their first Super Bowl appearance. How did they do this? How have they come this far in just three seasons? Easy. They have a great head coach, an elite offense and a different culture that doesn’t play into simple tropes of victimhood such as Same Old Lions or the convenient and generic Detroit vs. Everybody mentality. Case in point: When the referees screwed up and didn’t call a sack by Tyson Alualu, despite replays showing Baker Mayfield’s calf was clearly down before he threw the ball away, and the Bucs scored on the drive to tie it at 17 late in the third quarter, the Lions came back and scored on the next drive to take a 24-17 lead. For the first time in franchise history, the Lions have won two straight playoff games at home because they have let go of the past and all their sorry history and turned themselves into an almost entirely different franchise.

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How impressive was the offense?

Sam LaPorta continues to be unreal and, with his eighth catch, set an NFL record with the most receptions in a playoff game by a rookie tight end. But the key was the Lions’ run game, which stepped up and kept grinding out yards even after a slow start in the first half. When the Lions had the guts to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1, backup Craig Reynolds punched it up the middle on a great block by Frank Ragnow for a 17-10 lead in the third quarter. But the X-factor in this game was rookie Jahmyr Gibbs, who missed October's game against the Bucs with a hamstring injury. Gibbs was his usual electric self in this game, with no play bigger or more exciting than when he took a handoff in the fourth quarter, with the game tied, and ran off left tackle for a 31-yard touchdown to give the Lions a 24-17 lead. The most important part of the run game’s success was that it came against the Bucs’ fifth-ranked run defense, which held Philadelphia to 42 rushing yards last week. It proved Ben Johnson’s offense can impose its will even against an elite unit.

How about that Aaron Glenn defense?

I haven’t been easy on Glenn and his defense in the past, but I have to hand it to him: He called a great game, with timely blitzes that were effective against Baker Mayfield and the run game. James Houston was inactive for the game, so Glenn’s slim chance of getting an upgrade from a rushing end went up in smoke. But the defense kept blitzing and blitzing hard. Brian Branch sacked Mayfield in the first quarter, and then, in the third quarter, when the Bucs started from their 40 after a Lions punt, Branch blitzed and dropped running back Rachaad White for a 4-yard loss as the defense forced a three-and-out. After the Lions went up 24-17, the defense then forced a three-and-out. It has always been a chicken-and-egg situation with Glenn. Does he not have enough elite players or does need to make better use of the players he has to elevate their games and production? In this game, at least, Glenn did enough with his defense to give the Lions a chance.

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions won't play the victims in run to NFC championship game