DETROIT – There is an experience often shared by those who have played for the Detroit Lions. A rite of passage, really. They tell you that you won’t win anything. That this franchise is characterized by losing. Players know this very well and have heard it too often.
“’Oh, you guys are no good. You guys aren’t going to do anything.’ I’m sure everyone on this team has been told that by someone,” wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said Sunday night. “’You’re in the Lions. You are not going to do anything.’”
Let St. Brown, the man with more receipts than your accountant during tax season, put it in simple terms. This was his experience. Three years ago, he joined a squad stripped to the core, prepared to face another rebuild. The general perception? Why should this one be any different? After all, these are the Lions. They weren’t going to win over anyone at an introductory press conference. To change the way people view this city’s football team, it was up to St. Brown and so many others acquired over the years to win when it matters most: in January.
“We know what the perception is of being on the Detroit Lions,” St. Brown said Sunday, three years after this began, after the Lions’ 31-23 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to advance to the Game of NFC Championship. “But we feel like we have an opportunity to change things, not just for this year, but for years to come.”
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Three years ago. That’s when this started. That’s when they hired Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes. It was when players like St. Brown, Jared Goff, Penei Sewell and so many others landed in Detroit and were told they would never win anything substantial as long as they handed over the jersey of a franchise known for losing.
Many players had to experience the same loss as their predecessors, the same loss they were told they were good at. But for this team to get to where it is now, it was a necessary step. To change the perception of others, Lions had to know if their perception of themselves was real.
“When you’re 0-10-1, you find out things about people,” Campbell said last week. “You find out about players and coaches, people in the organization. And that’s why you have the best sense of who those people are, how they are made, what motivates them, and what they are willing to do for those around them. “That’s a much better point of view and people watching than when everything is going great and you have 12 wins.”
That’s where the Lions’ confidence in what they’re doing comes from: that first season together. Left tackle Taylor Decker referenced to a scene from HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which aired ahead of the 2022 season. The Lions were coming off a 3-13-1 season. One morning during training camp, the team was fully equipped and the coaches increased the intensity to prepare them for the upcoming season. They were trying hard because they were being tested.
Perhaps noticing the blank stares and muttered comments about the level of intensity, Campbell gave a speech to his players.
Like everything else on the road, they remember it.
“He said, ‘Guys, believe me, I’m doing everything I can to put you in the best position possible,'” Decker recalled after Sunday’s game. “’I’m not crazy, just trust me and follow the plan.’ That’s what we’ve done and we believe in each other. “We believe in our coaches and that has become something great.”
That trust, between player and coach, is why the Lions are here. Those votes of confidence accumulate over time and manifest in ways that fans of this team could only dream about before, but now witness in real time. We saw it in Week 1, when the Lions went to Kansas City and beat the Chiefs on a big night. We saw it in the wild card round, when Goff beat his former team and the quarterback he was traded for, in Detroit’s first playoff win in 32 years. The Lions fully believe they can take on any team in the league and win on any given Sunday. This is the team they were meant to be.
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It all led to Sunday. The Buccaneers were in town and the winner would play a trip to the Super Bowl. What they saw on Sunday was what the Lions expected. Stars like Goff (30 of 43 for 287 yards and two touchdowns), St. Brown (eight catches for 77 yards and a touchdown), Aidan Hutchinson (one sack and three QB hits) and others tapped into their potential in a playoff game. . Detroit’s rookie class, criticized at the time of the draft, continues to flourish. This was the vision initially put forward, when the powers that be built this.
“I figured we’d have a chance to compete with the big guys, and that’s where we are,” Campbell said.
But it’s not just the stars. Look around this roster, look at Sunday’s score, and you’ll find unknown players the Lions identified as their guys added to a roster built to win. Brock Wright, an undrafted free agent three years ago, has a thankless job as Detroit’s No. 2 tight end. He doesn’t usually receive media attention; that’s for rookie sensation Sam LaPorta. As a result, his contributions don’t always make the headlines. But in this game, when the Lions needed a big play, he caught a pass and ripped his way through the Tampa Bay defense for a gain of 29, in the middle of a very close 10-10 game.
Running back Craig Reynolds, a product of Kutztown University, also arrived in 2021. He is RB3 behind two stars. Their opportunities to contribute on offense are few and far between, but this staff has a knack for picking points. The last time these teams played, in Week 6, Reynolds was in action, with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery dealing with injuries. He perhaps provided the block of the year, paving the way for St. Brown to score in a 20-6 win over the Bucs.
On Sunday, the Lions returned to Reynolds, his first rushing attempt since Halloween, on a fourth-down run that ended in the end zone. Landing, Lions.
4th and Goal? The lions are going for it.
📺: #TBvsDET on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/x9nVpCrGhP-NFL (@NFL) January 21, 2024
And finally, as the Lions looked to close out the game with one last stop, it all came down to their defense. A group that has been questioned, doubted, criticized all season needed a move. He got it from Derrick Barnes, a fourth-round linebacker who took three years to emerge as a starter in this defense. It was the first interception of his career and helped the Lions punch their ticket to the NFC Championship Game.
DEFENDED THE DEN @derrickbarnes21 | #AllValue pic.twitter.com/hGhOJ3lFXn
– Detroit Lions (@Lions) January 21, 2024
“They all had a vision, and so did we,” Barnes said in the locker room. “That’s why you push yourself every week, every day. Because we know the potential we have and we do not accept less.”
“We’re going to the NFC Championship Game with that group of guys,” Campbell said. “And they love football, they play football and that’s what they respect, they respect their teammates and nothing more. And when you’re able to care more about the person next to you than… yourself, you can do some very special things, and that’s where we are with this group.”
This is how these Lions are understood. They’re unlike any Lions team that’s come before them, and they’re showing it when it matters most. They continue to win because of what they went through together. They continue to advance, they have proofs of concept and now they are looking to prove to others that they are real. They will head to San Francisco for a chance to play in this franchise’s first Super Bowl.
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After the game, when the scrum around St. Brown’s dispersed after his comments about changing perceptions, I stayed and asked him if he felt that perception changing, based on what the Lions were doing. His response was revealing, providing a glimpse inside the mind of a player chosen to play thesis Detroit Lions.
“More or less,” he said. “Not exactly. I mean, we’ll see. Next week, we’ll have the game picks. They’ll probably have San Francisco winning. I feel like you just have to keep winning. If we win next week, we’ll be lucky enough to go to the Super Bowl. “I think winning cures everything. I think that’s the most important thing.”
Look what has already been done for this franchise.
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(Photo by Amon-Ra St. Brown: Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
