If you didn’t love the Lions at the multiple three-win or less seasons, you don’t deserve their NFC North Championship. In all seriousness though, it doesn’t matter if you were a fan yesterday, a fan today, or have been a fan your entire life, what matters is that the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan are alive and well. It may have gotten a little too close to comfort near the end of the game, but a win is a win and Detroit beat Minnesota when the clock hit triple zeroes.
With the Sunday win, the Lions clinched the NFC North, a playoff spot, and dare I say every single heart in the Midwest outside of Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The game was filled with highs and lows, but ended on the best high with an interception by Ifeatu Melifonwu to seal the deal 30 to 24.
The Lions did win the game and had four interceptions defensively, but that side of the ball played just above horrible. An effort like that won’t win us the game in Dallas this upcoming week and it sure won’t be easy against the Vikings again in the final regular season game. Our defense continues to diminish my confidence with each week.
On the other hand, our offense was pretty darn solid in all aspects. The run game was working; as Jahmyr Gibbs had 80 yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns, and David Montgomery picked up 55 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown as well. Jared Goff had a pretty standard day too, chucking for 257 yards, 30 completions on 40 attempts, a touchdown, and no picks. Hopefully, he can carry that confidence in the pocket to Dallas this week too.
Detroit’s receivers were balling out too but didn’t have the big stats to prove it at first glance. Amon-Ra St. Brown led Lions’ receivers with 108 yards and a touchdown, Jameson Williams showed some improvement with ball security when getting hit hard after the catch, and Khalif
Raymond took advantage of single coverage with a pair of catches for big gains. This Sunday will be a big tell on how our receivers and Goff can do against a stronger secondary core, especially since Dallas has pick specialist Daron Bland and hard hitter Micah Parsons. Yeah, they are scary.
Now, I am not worried about the offense at all for next week. I believe they’ll be able to match the output of the Cowboys, but it’s the defense that will win or lose the game. Against Minnesota, we had four interceptions, two by Kerby Joseph, one by Ifeatu Melifonwu, and another by Brian Branch. Keep in mind though, Vikings quarterback Nick Mullens, threw for a staggering 411 yards on 22 completions. If that happens with Dak Prescott, we are cooked.
Detroit was able to pressure Mullens pretty much all game, but were only able to take him down four times for sacks. That is a good amount for a game, but the problem is we could of had a lot more. Mullens was able to scramble out of the pocket even though he isn’t a running quarterback.
Regardless, we got the win and made franchise history. I have never seen so many Detroit Lions story posts on Instagram to celebrate the historic occasion. It was so good to see a city and franchise that has been struggling for so long, finally give us something we desperately needed.
The question is now, what are we even playing for? Well I’ll tell you: the number one seed in the NFC. Monday night saw the San Francisco 49ers lose to the Baltimore Ravens, which means that the 49ers, Lions, and Philadelphia Eagles all share an 11-4 record. These next two weeks are must wins for the Lions to earn the first round bye. The Cowboys also have a 10-5 record, meaning they’re no slouch and we have to keep an eye on them too.
The upcoming game is in Dallas. The Cowboys fanbase, in my opinion, is a top three worst fanbase in the league. This is the first time that they have been good since the 1990's, but each year they think they still have Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin to make a Super Bowl run. Instead, they have CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott, so really not as good in comparison.
Expect a high scoring affair this next Monday. Whichever quarterback cracks first is going to be the one that loses. Both teams have the ability to get multiple takeaways so the Lions need to play clean football for all four quarters. It sounds simple right? But, I don’t know what Detroit team is going to show up. Will it be a team that is fine with just a easy ride into the playoffs, or will it be the team that wants to fight till the end like last year?
Enjoy this week, enjoy this year, and enjoy every second you can people. We deserve this NFC North championship and it’s been a long time coming. This isn’t just a one time deal either, the Detroit Lions takeover is here to stay for many more years to come.