The Lions Already Knew They Were Winners

With 9 minutes, 13 seconds left in the third quarter of another (!) Detroit Lions playoff victory, “Lose Yourself” by Eminem played on the Ford Field loudspeakers. The big screen showed the rapper all fired up in his suite, which had everything and nothing to do with what unfolded next.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost four yards in three plays and punted. The Lions, who had struggled offensively, scored touchdowns on their next three drives. They beat Tampa, 31–23, for many good football reasons, but what is happening in Detroit is not just a football story. It is a chemical reaction between fans who thought they would never see this and a team that always believed it would.

Three years ago, Dan Campbell arrived in Detroit and held his infamous Captain Kneecap press conference. Historically, Lions coaches have to at least coach a game before they say something nutty and get roasted for it. (Hello, Bobby “I don’t coach that stuff!” Ross, wherever you are.) The city hoped Campbell would at least turn out to be a fire-and-brimstone leader. And yet he is so much more.

The beauty of Campbell is that he can give a hell of a pregame speech, but by that point, his team didn’t need one.

So when the Lions punted on four of their first six drives, the offense’s mood “was calm, for sure,” All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell says. As Campbell said: “We know if we’re not quite there, it will come. That dam will burst.”

NFL games often come down to a few plays, and those plays come down to details: a linebacker reading the quarterback’s eyes, a center diagnosing a blitz. The NFL’s best franchises excel at churning the bottom of the roster until they find pieces and personalities that fit. That is what the Lions have done since Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes took over. When they passed twice from the Bucs’ 1-yard line, then handed the ball to third-string running back Craig Reynolds on fourth down, nobody questioned it. And Reynolds scored. When brilliant defensive end Aidan Hutchinson saw something before a Bucs snap, he barked at his teammates and pointed, reading the play properly. And when the Bucs still scored a touchdown, the Lions just moved on to the next possession.

“Brad and Dan have been very intentional,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “Everyone’s brought in here for a reason.”

The Lions did not outplay the Bucs all game, just as they did not dominate the Los Angeles Rams last week. But in both games, they made the plays they needed to make when it mattered most. The only way to do that consistently is if you have smart, well coached players who, to borrow a phrase from one coach on the market, do their jobs.

There are two kinds of people who love the Lions: long-suffering fans, and kids. This all feels magical to them. But it does not feel magical to the people doing it. Sunday evening, linebacker Alex Anzalone tries to explain the view from the inside, as Sam Cooke’s voice piped through the locker-room loudspeakers: Don’t know much about history ….

“We just kind of treat it as status quo,” Anzalone says. “Obviously, we know what was on the line. Last week was huge for the fans, but for us, it’s one game at a time. We have bigger goals than just one playoff win.”

Anzalone was a part-time starter for the Saints when Campbell was an assistant coach there. He came to Detroit because he believed in Campbell, and because Campbell identified him as the kind of person he wanted on his team. Three years later, Anzalone says, “He has just flourished in that role. He’s a former player, too, (so) he gets it. He’s resilient.”

In the NFL, almost everybody gets branded. Players are branded busts. Coordinators are branded geniuses. Quarterbacks are branded winners or losers. The league moves fast. People glom onto whoever is succeeding. Negative branding is really hard to undo.

Three years ago, Campbell started his head coaching career by going 0-10-1, and within the locker room, players branded him a winner.

“Just the kind of culture that he was trying to instill,” says Sewell, who was a rookie then. “When actions speak louder than words, you just kind of follow. You don’t question it.”

The Lions are not the best team in the NFL. But to win a Super Bowl, a team does not have to be the best. It just has to be really good and believe it is the best.

How can we describe what is happening in Detroit? Goff threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns and also ended his press conference by complimenting defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, with no prompting. Campbell just beat two of the game’s premier offensive and defensive minds (Rams coach Sean McVay and Bucs coach Todd Bowles, respectively). But when Campbell was asked about what he has done, he almost got choked up as he said, “I’ve got a lot of really outstanding people around me. I’m fortunate.”

The San Francisco 49ers are rightly favored next week. They are also very beatable, and as Goff said Sunday night, “We’re going to come into it expecting to win.” If the Lions win another (!) playoff game and earn their first Super Bowl berth, then remember: This (not so) magical season started when they went to Kansas City and beat the defending champs, and afterward, Campbell was asked if he learned something about his team, and he gave the most remarkable answer:

“I already knew.”