The train keeps chugging. Doesn’t matter who’s on it, or who isn’t. By the time the Lions‘ 12th win in 13 games ended late Thursday night, Brian Branch was missing, Alim McNeill was missing … heck, half the starting defense was missing, and guys who wouldn’t know Woodward Avenue from Woody Allen were wearing Detroit uniforms out there.
Doesn’t matter. This is a magical run in a magical season. And there doesn’t seem to be an obstacle these Lions can’t overcome.
Even their own feet.
Seriously. On a late fourth-down gamble that will now live in Detroit football lore, Jared Goff tripped over his lineman’s leg, fell to his knees, but still managed to get the ball to David Montgomery, like a mother shoving her baby into the protective grip of a rushing fireman.
“(Goff’s) an athlete!” Dan Campbell would later joke.
“Yeah,” Goff would respond. “Real athletic to fall down on a routine handoff.”
Doesn’t matter. Montgomery took that ball and shot through the Green Bay defense for 7 yards, a first down and, essentially, the game. A fourth-down dice roll that could have exploded in their faces instead worked out perfectly.
Goff got off the turf, took a snap, ran down the clock, and kicker Jake Bates walked out, recited a Bible verse to himself and booted the winning field goal as the clock went to zero.
“Northern savages!” Campbell would call his team when this 34-31 thriller was over. But even savages consider the danger now and then. Campbell wasn’t having it. Never mind that his defensive cast was so devoid of star players, it was like going to a Rolling Stones concert to see Charlie Watts.
“No excuses,” Campbell said. “Our guys knew where we were at. We don’t need to talk about being tough. We don’t no need to talk about being resilient. We live it.”
Train keeps chugging.
All about the fourth downs
Now you could point to many keys to this divisional win that clinched the playoffs so early you almost can’t call it a Christmas present.
You could start with the defense, which, under coordinator Aaron Glenn, cobbled together a gameplan Thursday with new faces such as Kwan Alexander (signed off Denver’s practice squad), Jamal Adams (previously with Tennessee), Jonah Williams (signed off the Rams’ practice squad) and Myles Adams (formerly of the Seahawks). Glenn told his patchwork group to “cut it loose,” according to Campbell. And while they allowed 31 points — albeit on several short-field drives — they held Green Bay to one third-down conversion all night, got a sack, forced a fumble and throttled running back Josh Jacobs into a 66-yard night on 18 carries.
They can take off the “Hello, My Name Is” stickers now.
You could likewise credit Goff, who bounced back Thursday night from an early bad interception as if he’d actually given himself amnesia, completing his last 13 passes of the game and throwing for three touchdowns overall.
You could certainly point to Tim Patrick, who caught two of those touchdowns, or Amon-Ra St. Brown, who made a fistful of big plays when needed.
But honestly? This game was about fourth downs. They have become symbolic of the Lions under Campbell: the good, the bad, the questionable, the no-brainers. Outsiders are flummoxed when Detroit continuously goes for them. TV announcers marvel and gush.
But Lions fans now take them for granted. And if fourth downs could hold a brush and a palette, they’d have painted the story of Thursday night.
‘Players knew. Coaches knew’
The first came late in the second quarter, with the Lions spitting distance from the goal line. On second and one, Goff ran a sneak and seemed to get in. But the call was reversed. Next play, Montgomery took a pitch and got snagged for a 1-yard loss.
So on fourth-and-2, what does Campbell do?
You really have to ask?
The offense stayed out there. Goff dropped back (he’s passing on fourth-and-2?) and found Jahmyr Gibbs in the end zone. Touchdown. The crowd roared. The Lions went into halftime with a 17-7 lead.
The second fourth down of note was a failure. Late in the third quarter, ball on their own 31, the Lions still went for it and got stuffed on a Gibbs run. On their own 31?
Campbell clenched his jaw. He showed no emotion. Four plays later, the Packers were in the end zone, having grabbed a 28-24 lead.
“Did you have any doubts about your decision after that?” Campbell was later asked.
“Nope. None. Look, the guys knew. Players knew. Coaches knew. … We could be up two scores, we could be down two scores. But just because we’re one or the other, we’ve got to play our style of game.”
Dan Campbell, master painter
Which brings us to the last fourth down try, the one that Goff nearly muffed and that Montgomery somehow made look easy. Consider the situation. There were 43 seconds left in the game. The score was tied. The Lions have a solid kicker and were sitting on Green Bay’s 21 yard line. And the Packers had just one timeout left.
I’ll bet 31 other NFL coaches would have gone for the field goal. Take the lead. Kick it off. Rely on your defense.
But Campbell coaches by feel. His games are as spontaneous as a Jackson Pollock painting, all pour, splash, wipe. Only he knows where the colors go.
“I just felt like we needed to end it on offense,” he explained. “I did not want to give that ball back, and I believed we could get that. I believed we could convert. I trust that O-line, I trust David.”
That trust is the glue that is sticking this amazing 2024 mural to the wall.
“(It’s) bigger than anything,” Goff attested. “That’s all you want from a head coach is to believe in you. And that gives us that little extra umph to want to make it happen. I’m not the one running or blocking but I’m sure those guys up front say, ‘Alright, you’re giving it to us to … finish this game on our terms.’ It means a ton.”
Which means a ton of fun now. Detroit has won 11 straight, a franchise record, and is now locked into the playoffs. This is how far the Lions have come. When Campbell was asked how it felt to clinch a playoff berth this early, he admitted he didn’t even know they’d done it until he came to the postgame news conference.
“I wish I’d have told the team,” he said, laughing.
Can you imagine, even two years ago — let alone the last six decades — a Lions team that didn’t know exactly when it had cinched a postseason bid? The champagne would have been in ice.
But these Lions aren’t even impressed. They are after bigger game on this hunt.
“Of course we wanted in,” Campbell said, “(but) we want in a different way. We want to go in on our own terms, and we want to find a way to get this No. 1 seed. And that’s the priority.”
Hear that? It’s no longer about being good. It’s about being the best. You know what that sounds like? It sounds like something that has no plans of slowing down before its final stop.
Train keeps chugging.
Is it too soon to ask what the weather is like in New Orleans in February?
Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates with his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow him @mitchalbom.
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