Being a lifelong Detroit Lions fan has been incredibly difficult. Lions fans have been blessed with some of the greatest players in NFL history, but it has led to little team success. All the joy of watching Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson play was usually met with a double digit loss season. It was a despairing wave of defeat that washed over us, year after year.
Then Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell came along, and the tide turned. Lions fans now have a reason to be excited every Sunday instead of just being excited for the draft every year. Every win feels good, but there are some that stand out. Here are the five most satisfying wins of the Dan Campbell era.
5. Revenge Against Cowboys (Week 6, 2024)
Some games just feel personal. After the ridiculous “Did Not Report” debacle from Week 17 in 2023, you know the Lions wanted to make a statement in this game.
Boy, did they ever. Dan Campbell’s squad marched into Jerry World and laid a 47-9 beatdown on the Cowboys. We got a surgical Jared Goff throwing for 315 yards and 3 TDs, 80 yards on the ground from David Montgomery with 2 TDs and 4 sacks of Dak Prescott. We even got to see a fantastic hook and ladder to Penei Sewell. Sure, it technically didn’t count but that’s beside the point. Hearing Jerry Jones admit “I saw a very physical bunch that was having a lot of fun at our expense” while the entire country seemed to relish in the Lions’ victory was a great, great feeling.
4. Everything On The Line (Week 18, 2024)
Imagine being 14-2 and still needing to win your last game to be able to call yourselves Division Champions. Win and not just be division champs, but the #1 seed and everything that comes with it. Homefield advantage throughout the playoffs and a much needed bye. Lose and you’re the 5 seed. You have to go on the road next week and play the Rams in Los Angeles.
That’s the scenario that both the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings faced when they squared off in Week 18 last year. This was the 272nd and final regular season game of the year and none meant more than this one.
Having the entire football world focusing on this game, Ford Field was rocking. The best season in franchise history had Lions’ fans on their feet and providing unreal energy for the team to feed off of. Minnesota had a great offense while the Lions’ defense had been ravaged by injuries at a rate I had never seen before. Who would step up with the entire world watching?
Enter Amik Robertson. Taking over for the injured Carlton Davis, Robertson put the clamps on the Vikings All-World receiver Justin Jefferson, limiting the superstar to only 3 catches all game. Pair that with an absolutely electric performance by RB Jahmyr Gibbs (139 rush yards, 31 receiving yards, 4 total TDs), and you end up with a 31-9 shellacking of the Vikings. The road to the Super Bowl had to go through Detroit, and Lions’fan had never been so excited for what might be to come.
3. Putting The NFL On Notice (Opening Night 2023)
The Lions finished the 2022 season going 8-2 over their last 10 games after starting an abysmal 1-6. Barely missing the playoffs stung, but the message was loud and clear: the Lions are a good team now. But how good, exactly? Can they beat the elite teams in the NFL and really be a Super Bowl contender?
They wouldn’t have to wait long to answer those questions. The schedule makers decided to capitalize on the buzz surrounding the Lions by pitting them against the defending champs, the big, bad Kansas City Chiefs, on opening night at Arrowhead Stadium.
The NFL typically starts its season with the defending Super Bowl champs at home on a Thursday night against a marquee opponent. Sometimes it’s a playoff rematch. Often it’s a division rival. The Lions were neither of those to the Chiefs. Just a really good, exciting team that the NFL wanted to showcase. That the league picked the Lions for this game is a testament to how far they had come over the last year. Hype and good vibes are great, but meaningless unless you back it up on the field.
Opening night is a celebration of the champs. Like an inauguration months after you win the election. The Super Bowl gets raised. Fans are going crazy. Arrowhead was already one of the toughest venues for the away team. This night’s festivities only amplified the tough task at hand. Not many expected the Lions to come away with a win.
Even fewer thought the Lions had a chance at halftime. After a first quarter touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St, Brown gave the Lions a 7-0 lead, the Chiefs settled in and took control of the game. Up 14-7, Kansas City looked like they had weathered the early storm and were on their way to a relatively stress-free victory.
Then it happened. Lions rookie Brian Branch intercepted a deflected Patrick Mahomes pass and took it 50 yards to the house. Branch didn’t take long to prove that teams allowing him to fall to the middle of the second round was a huge mistake. The crowd quieted. Everyone watching at home could tell the momentum had switched.
The Chiefs managed to retake a 20-14 lead after 2 field goals, but everyone knew the Lions offense had more left in the tank. A 9 play, 75 yard drive was punctuated by an 8 yard David Montgomery touchdown run with 7 minutes left in the game. Lions led 21-20.
Those would be the last points of the game as the Lions held on for a monumental victory. The entire league was put on notice. The Lions have arrived and they were going to be a problem.
2. You Never Forget Your First Time (Week 13, 2021)
When Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes took control of the Lions before the 2021 season, they knew what they were getting into. Bringing success to a franchise that has known only misery for half a century was no easy task. They had to tear it down to the studs and rebuild from scratch. Not just the roster, but the culture as well. This meant jettisoning a lot of the overpriced, under-performing veterans and replacing them with undrafted rookies and bargain basement 1 year deals with a few free agents. Not to mention having to trade franchise QB Matthew Stafford and get a return that would shape the team for years to come.
Needless to say, expectations for the Lions were at an all-time low. It was going to be a long season. I don’t think, however, that many expected the team to go their first 11 games and not win a single one.
Sure, there were some close losses. A couple of walk-off field goals, including a then record 66 yarder, sent the Lions home losers. Along the way, the Lions had earned a reputation for fighting to the end. We even saw Dan Campbell cry at the podium after a heartbreaking loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Round 2 versus those Vikings would prove to be the pivotal point of Dan Campbell’s coaching career. Sitting at 0-11-1, the season was lost, but you wouldn’t have known it because of the fight the team showed that day.
After turning a 20-6 halftime lead into a 27-23 deficit, this had the look of another “same old Lions” game. A scrappy effort where they fought to the end but ultimately lost. Not so fast. The Lions got the ball back down 27-23 with under 2 minutes left in the game. Jared Goff marched the team down to the Vikings 11 yard line with only enough time left for one more play. It had to be a touchdown. Goff found rookie WR Amon-Ra St. Brown in the end zone and sent the crowd into a frenzy.
It wasn’t just a win. Selfishly, the idea of going through another season without a win was almost unbearable. The relief I felt was unbelievable. But seeing the reaction from the players told me that something special had happened. From St.Brown holding onto the ball like it was a newborn baby to Jared Goff making a beeline to the sidelines to hug Dan Campbell, it was easy to tell that this team had finally broken through and we were finally headed towards better days.
1. Finally Winning A Playoff Game (January 14, 2024)
When the Lions beat the Cowboys 38-6 in the divisional round after the 1991 season, I was 10 years old. I thought it was the first playoff win of what was sure to be many. Boy was I wrong.
Fast forward 32 years and Lions’ fans had never seen another playoff win. Decades of disappointment had left us wondering if we ever would again. The Lions were finally good again, but would that success last in the playoffs?
Ford Field got to host a playoff game for the first time in its history. The Los Angeles Rams and old friend Matthew Stafford were coming to town and excitement over the Lions had reached a fever pitch. It was fitting that the Lions would have to beat the guy who was the best QB the team had ever had.
The Lions started strong, taking the opening possession down the field and ending it with a Montgomery touchdown. The tone was set. After the first quarter, the good guys were up 14-3. But Lions’ fans knew it wasn’t going to be easy and we were right.
Halftime came and the Lions were only up 21-17. It was anyone’s game. Would the pressure finally get to Detroit or would a moment that was 32 years in the making finally happen? Each team would add a field goal in the third quarter. Up 24-20 with only one quarter to go. Fifteen minutes felt like hours. The game would tighten even more when the Rams made it 24-23 about midway through the 4th.
The Lions had an opportunity to put the game away or at least take up a significant amount of time when they got the ball back. They failed to do either. A quick three and out gave the Rams the ball back with plenty of time. The defense needed to hold one more time. They did, and the Rams punted the ball back to the Lions with a little over four minutes to go. A couple of first downs and this game was over.
The first first came on a second down pass to Montgomery. The Rams were out of timeouts. Only ten more yards to go. A one yard run took it to the two minute warning. Nobody was sitting down, either in the stadium or watching at home. The game was sealed with Jared Goff finding St. Brown for an eleven yard gain. The crowd went wild. It was like watching the end of a movie. First down. Victory formation. Three kneeldowns later and the clock read all zeros. Lions win. Onto the next round for the first time in thirty-two years.
It felt like an exorcism. It was a joy I had never felt as a football fan. I cried like so many other Lions’ fans did. We had finally won a playoff game.
