Lions' win over Packers sends message to NFC, and it's because they're good at something they weren't last year
The Detroit Lions are for real.
As the wins keep mounting and the performances match the record, it’s time to take this team seriously. After their 34-20 win over the Packers (and the game wasn’t even as close as the score would suggest), there’s no question about who is the best team in the NFC North. It’s the Lions. The offensive line is overwhelming, they’ve found an effective running game combination and Detroit's defense has vastly improved from a season ago.
Detroit’s defense becoming one of the better units in the league is a huge turnaround from where the Lions were a year ago. Last season, the Lions' defense was porous, to put it kindly. It finished dead last in opposing yards per play (6.2), and 41.2% of its opponents’ drives ended in a score. This year, it's fifth in opposing yards per play (4.5) and only 33.3% of drives are ending with a score. This has been a massive resurgence on that side of the ball, and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn deserves a lot of credit for getting this team to play some good football this season, because it most certainly was not playing good ball at this point last year — or really at any point.
The defensive improvement has allowed the offense to be the best version of itself. Jared Goff is a quality quarterback, but at this point in his career it’s become clear that he's not a guy who's going to lead the charge all by himself (although at this rate he may end up getting paid like one). The Lions not being in shootouts every week like they were last year has allowed them to lean more on the running game to close out wins. Running back David Montgomery has been the ideal late-game bell cow while rookie Jahmyr Gibbs has been serviceable in a spell role.
In a weak NFC, the Lions have the potential to obtain a high seed for the playoffs. Just look at their division. They just beat the Packers by two touchdowns, the Vikings are paying the sins of regression for last year, and the Bears have barely been a participant in the 2023 season. Times have changed and the Lions are firmly the best team in the NFC North. They have the perfect combination of size, speed and smarts to finally produce a product worth getting invested in.
Even in the rest of the conference, there are only a handful of teams that can be considered better than the Lions — and one of those teams, the Cowboys, just lost by two scores to the Cardinals. As of now, there’s no reason for Lions fans to believe that they don’t have a chance to make it fairly far into the playoffs. This team is just strong overall.
The Lions’ next four opponents are Carolina, Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Las Vegas before they hit a bye week. All four of those games are winnable if the team continues to perform like it has over the first few weeks of the season.
It’s been said a lot, but it really needs to be hammered down that this era of Lions football is different from years past. This team isn’t just promising, it's actually good. Next stop, playoffs.
