DETROIT (AP) — For most of a century, the Detroit Lions making the playoffs was a banner day.
Suddenly, it has become old hat.
After winning their last NFL championship in 1957, the Lions only played 13 playoff games in the next 75 seasons. They only won one of them — a 38-6 rout of the Dallas Cowboys in 1991.
That all changed last season. The Lions beat the Rams 24-23 on Jan. 14 and then defeated Tampa Bay 31-23 a week later. They led the NFC championship game 24-7 at halftime, but the San Francisco 49ers rallied to win 34-31.
This year, things have been even better. A week after a Thanksgiving win over the Chicago Bears, the Lions beat Green Bay 34-31 to move to 12-1 and clinch a second straight postseason berth — the first time they've done that since going three years in a row from 1993-95.
Coach Dan Campbell didn't even notice his team had secured a playoff spot after beating the Packers.
“I just found that out — I didn't even realize,” he said after the game. “It's good. It's good, but it's like, man, we've got four (games) left and we want to get in a different way. We want to go in on our terms and find a way to get this one seed. That's the priority.”
Campbell was so oblivious to locking up a spot that he didn't even mention it to the team after the game — although they might have seen “Playoffs Clinched” plastered all over the scoreboards.
“I wish I had told the team, but I had no idea,” he said. “Honestly, I think they know. They feel like I feel. We can do the old golf clap, but we know what we want to do.”
Jared Goff, who followed Campbell into the interview room, agreed with his coach.
“I just heard that,” he said. “It's pretty cool, but it is certainly not what our ultimate goal is. We want to win this division, and we've still got some work to do.”
At 12-1 and on an 11-game winning streak, it is hard to find something that isn't working. The Lions offense, though, has been remarkable. They have scored at least 23 points in 10 straight games, including six games over 30, four over 40 and two over 50. They are leading the league in scoring at 32.1 points per game and are fourth in both passing touchdowns (27) and rushing touchdowns (22).
The Lions are second in the league in scoring defense (18.0 ppg), but injuries are starting to catch up to them. Jordan Love averaged 10.3 yards per attempt and 17.2 yards per completion on Thursday — both season-worsts for Detroit's defense — and the Packers were the first team this season to score 30 points against them.
Seven Lions defenders registered a quarterback hit on Thursday night. Linebacker Jack Campbell was a first-round pick in 2023 and has been a fixture on the Detroit defense, but the other six — Al-Quadin Muhammad, Myles Adams, Trevor Nowaske, Za'Darius Smith, Ezekiel Turner and Jonah Williams — have joined the team during the regular season to replace injured players.
Rookie CB Terrion Arnold had a rough day, including yet another pass-interference penalty in the end zone, this one wiping out a Lions interception. He hasn't recorded an interception in his 12-game career and is averaging 0.6 passes defended per game.
The Lions were missing 11 defensive linemen and linebackers against the Packers, then lost key defensive tackle Alim McNeill to a head injury. Most of those players are on injured reserve, but it isn't clear if McNeill, Levi Onwuzurike (hamstring), Josh Paschal (knee) or D.J. Reader (shoulder) will be available to face Buffalo on Dec. 15.
18 — the number of Lions on injured reserve, more than any other team in the NFL. If anything can derail them between now and the Super Bowl, it is going to be running out of healthy players in places other than the defensive front seven.
Get as much rest and healing as possible with a long week ahead.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl