CBS Sports: The Lions and Campbell are no longer satisfied with the current status of the team.
The Detroit Lions qualifying for the playoffs was a major accomplishment for over a century.
It is now expected on a regular basis.
The Lions only participated in 13 postseason games during the following 75 years after capturing their final NFL title in 1957. They only triumphed in one of the games, defeating the Dallas Cowboys 38–6 in 1991.
Last season, that was different. The Lions defeated Tampa Bay 31-23 the week after defeating the Rams 24-23 on January 14. At the half, they had a 24-7 lead in the NFC championship game, but the 49ers rallied for a 34-31 victory.
The Lions are performing much better this year. The Lions defeated Green Bay 34-31 to increase their record to 12-1 and earn a second consecutive postseason participation, something they haven’t done since 1995, following a victory against the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving.
After the victory over Green Bay, coach Dan Campbell was unaware that his team had won a postseason berth.
Following the game, he remarked, “I just found that out — I didn’t even realize.” It’s good. It’s good, but we want to get in a different approach since we only have four (games) remaining. We want to discover a means to obtain this one seed on our terms. That is the top priority.
Even though the squad likely noticed “Playoffs Clinched” on the scoreboards after the game, Campbell was so ignorant of the accomplishment that he failed to bring it up to them.
He remarked, “I wish I had told the team, but I had no idea.” To be honest, I believe they are aware. They have the same feelings as me. We know what we want to accomplish, but we can still give each other the traditional golf clap.
Following Campbell into the interview room, Jared Goff concurred with his coach.
He responded, “I just heard that.” Although it’s kind of cool, it’s definitely not what we want to achieve in the end. We still have more work to do, but our goal is to win this division.
