The Detroit Lions are walking away from Week 14 with a trip to the playoffs booked.
Detroit defeated the Green Bay Packers, 34-31, on Thursday night to clinch the NFC’s first playoff berth of the season.
Despite a rash of injuries, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, the Lions were able to overcome two second-half deficits for the triumph.
"I told the team this’ll be one of those you never forget," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said. "Spoke with \[Jared\] Goff pregame, he’s had all these games, he’s had a long career, and I’m sure there’s some that he probably, you don’t remember everything when you’ve played as long as he has, but I said you will never forget this one. You will never forget this game. And I think a lot of it is just that, what we’ve had to overcome, the hand we were dealt, and I just love the fact that our guys don’t make excuses. They just find a way, and everybody on that team believed we were going to win that game and we were going to find a way. And we just did it again."
The achievement marks the first time the Lions have made the playoffs in consecutive seasons since 1995, when the Wayne Fontes-coached pride went to the last of three straight postseasons.
With Campbell’s squad having made plenty of history in 2023 with the franchise’s first playoff trip since 2016, first playoff win since 1991 and first NFC North title, Detroit’s got plenty more on its to-do list in the regular season.
The Lions' 11th consecutive win maintained their top seeding in the NFC and moved them a step closer to a potential first-round bye and homefield advantage in the playoffs. Before those goals are accomplished, Detroit (12-1) will also need to secure its second straight division title. That hasn’t happened since all the way back in 1954 when head coach Buddy Parker and Hall of Fame quarterback Bobby Layne’s Lions won their third consecutive division title (North Division, 1952; Western Division 1953, 1954).
The Minnesota Vikings (10-2) currently trail the Lions by two games in the win column.
Now the NFC’s top team, the Lions are continuing forward on their quest for a first-ever Super Bowl appearance. Thursday night’s triumph assured they’ll have a shot at accomplishing it.
Up next, the Lions will face off against another team that’s bound for the playoffs, the Buffalo Bills, in a Dec. 15 showdown that will have postseason implications on both sides of the bracket.
"We want to find a way to get this No. 1 seed, and that’s the priority," Campbell said. "You know certainly you’ve got to win this division and then you get this No. 1 seed, and we got a step closer to winning this division and doing what I just mentioned. So yeah, listen, it’s great, we’re in the playoffs. I wish I had told the team, I didn’t even tell them, I had no idea. But honestly I think they know, I think they feel like I feel, I really believe that. And I think everybody would be like OK, that’s great, with the old golf clap, but then we know what we want to do. We talked about this really even after last year, we talked about it in the spring, we talked about it in training camp. We know what our goals are."