After a historic loss last year in the National Football Conference (NFC) championship game to the Washington Commanders, questions were asked throughout the Lions coaching staff and organization. Questions such as “Will this team ever win a Super Bowl?” or “Is Jared Goff not enough for us at quarterback?” These questions, asked constantly, only fueled the Lions’ desire to do better this year. But the question remains, “Will the Lions ever actually get to a Super Bowl?”
This year, the Lions kicked off their regular season by going to Green Bay to play the Packers, one of their biggest rivals. It was the same place the Lions kicked Aaron Rodgers out of the playoffs on Sunday Night Football during the last week of the season two years ago. The opener, however, did not go the same way. The Packers pounced on Detroit, taking a 17-3 lead into halftime. The Lions were not able to overcome that deficit as the Packers held on and won the game 27-13. Lions quarterback Jared Goff didn’t have his best game, going 31-39 with a touchdown and an interception. What really hurt the Lions, though, was the run game, as the Lions’ leading rusher, David Montgomery, only had 25 yards.
After losing to the Packers, the Lions came home to host the Chicago Bears, another divisional rival opponent. The Bears, led by head coach Ben Johnson, a former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator, came into the game having lost their season opener by three points and were also looking for their first win of the season. Detroit was able to pull away and win 52-21. The Lions averaged 8.8 yards per play in the game, and Jared Goff threw five touchdowns, a career high.
With the season starting 1-1, there were still a lot of questions surrounding the Lions and their roster. Concerns over the defense and another wide receiver were the ones being highlighted the most. A lot would show with the Lions’ next three games all being against teams from the NFC North, with two of them being on the road.
On Monday Night Football, the Lions traveled to Baltimore to face Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, who have consistently been one of the best teams in the National Football League (NFL) in the past. The game went back and forth with the two teams trading touchdowns. At the end of the third quarter, the game was tied 21-21 and was up for grabs. The Lions offense took over and was able to separate themselves from Baltimore thanks to their rushing attack from Gibbs and Montgomery, with both having touchdowns in the quarter. The Ravens were able to come back from the 38-24 lead the Lions created and scored a touchdown with 29 seconds remaining, but time was not on Baltimore’s side, and the Lions left with a 2-1 record, a good-looking win, and some momentum heading into their next game back in Detroit.
The next two weeks, the Lions continued to dominate with wins over the Browns and Bengals, both by double-digit margins. This gave the Lions a 4-1 record heading into arguably one of their biggest games of the year at Kansas City, where two years ago in the NFL season opener, they surprised everyone by shocking the Chiefs and winning 21-20. That was the beginning of a new era for Dan Campbell and the Lions organization, and they haven’t disappointed any die-hard fans in the regular season since that year, making the playoffs two straight times and looking for a third. However, in their game at Kansas City this year, like their loss in Green Bay, the Lions couldn’t come through and lost 30-17. There were a few questionable calls in the game that could have gone the Lions’ way, which made a lot of people angry at the refs.
The next week, the Lions took care of the Buccaneers 24-9. The game was dominated by Detroit, with Jahmyr Gibbs putting up 136 yards and two touchdowns on only seventeen carries. However, the next week, J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings pounced on Detroit in a tough loss that ended 27-24. The Lions bounced back the week after, beating a plagued Commanders team 44-22 in Washington, putting themselves back in the playoff consideration with a 6-3 record.
Last week, the Lions went to Philadelphia, but could not find the offensive success they had found earlier in the season. The offense went 0/5 on fourth down, including a failed fake punt attempt. The Lions controlled the ball for only 24:12 in the game and also could not get Jared Goff going, with Goff finishing the game going 14/37 with 255 yards and one touchdown and one interception each. It was surprising to see the Lions’ offense put up nine points, especially with how dominant they were at the beginning of the season.
Currently, the Lions are 6-4, putting themselves one spot behind in the playoff hunt. The good news, though, is the Lions still have seven games left in the season to find a spot and contend. Some of the biggest surprises of the year so far have been from the Lions’ divisional opponent, the Chicago Bears, who have taken over the division for the first time in years and have a 7-3 record. In the AFC, young quarterbacks such as Bo Nix for the Denver Broncos, Drake Maye for the New England Patriots, and Justin Herbert for the Los Angeles Chargers are all in playoff contention and taking over their divisions in unexpected ways. The Indianapolis Colts have also been a surprise, sitting with an 8-2 record.
Halfway through the season, many questions have been answered about who this Lions team is and what they will need to achieve to make the playoffs and a run to the Super Bowl. To get there, though, will take a lot of work and wins that Dan Campbell will have to generate. But if there’s anything that a Lions fan has learned in the last few years, it’s that anything is possible.
