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Detroit Lions
Their defense was torn to shreds by injuries. Their offense lost a workhorse in David Montgomery. And despite all of that, their coach, Dan Campbell, made the call to go all-out Monday night of Week 17 against the San Francisco 49ers.
Some coaches would’ve pulled back, knowing the showdown with the Minnesota Vikings was coming.
Campbell punched the gas. Six days later, his foot’s still on the floor, and his team is 15–2.
First, the Lions dispatched the Niners 40–34 in Santa Clara, in the kind of shootout you’d expect they’d have to engage in given the damage they’ve incurred on defense. Sunday night, it was far more resounding—the 31–9 rout of the Vikings coming, really, every which way.
But two things really stood out, to me at least, as symbols of what Detroit is right now.
The first, of course, was how that defense played. While they did get Alex Anzalone back, they’re still without Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill and Carlton Davis III, among others. They were faced with a Vikings team that had scored 27 or more points in four consecutive weeks, and five of six. And given all that, the mismatch that some might have thought was coming went the other way entirely.
Campbell said a few weeks back that, given the injuries, the Lions would play any style they needed to in order to scratch out wins. Somehow, this time around, that meant riding their defense through the early stages of what looked like a rock fight—and leaning back on the leader they had lost, Anzalone, who figured he could give them something they’d be missing.
“[GM] Brad [Holmes] and his staff, first of all, have done a good job trying to piece together personnel to put a quality defense on the field,” Anzalone told me as he was leaving Ford Field. “It’s a hard job to do this late in the season, as the injuries have accumulated. At the end of the day, defensively, we’ve been catching a lot of flak, but at the same time we just haven’t been playing clean football with energy and passion.”
So Anzalone thought he could make a difference in his first game in seven weeks bringing that to the table. It worked, “And that’s what leads to good defense. It’s not necessarily what you do but how you do it, and that’s where we’d been lacking. It was fun to be a part of it.”
When the Lions’ offense stalled, and Jared Goff threw a couple of picks, the defense had their back.
And it happened through a game plan that defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn concocted to run the Lions out there in light boxes—with more defensive backs on the field—to better cover the Viking’ receivers and have slot corner Amik Robertson follow Justin Jefferson (with help) all over the field. That roadmap to victory required trust, of course, in Robertson, and also the defensive line to hold up its end of the bargain, and force Minnesota into a game it didn’t want to play.
“Amik Robertson traveled with 18 a lot of the game and we had doubles on him, but at the same time Amik challenged him—and a lot of players around the league aren’t willing to do that,” Anzalone says. “We stopped the run out of a light box, and guys got pressure on [Sam] Darnold, and we were sticky in coverage.”
And the results followed.
The Lions didn’t allow a touchdown all night. Four Viking trips to the red zone ended in a total of six points. Two of those were closed out with turnovers on downs—one on a fourth-and-goal from the 3, the other on a fourth-and-goal from the 2.
In the seven games leading into Sunday night, Darnold had passer ratings of 107.0, 116.1, 111.6, 157.9, 74.1, 112.3 and 116.1. Against the Lions, the Vikings’ quarterback had a 55.5 rating. Meanwhile, outside of a 58-yard burst from Cam Akers, Minnesota was held to 62 yards on 18 carries against those light boxes, with no other run of even 10 yards. Jefferson was held to 54 yards on three catches.
Which leads us to the second symbol of where Detroit is.
Given the Lions’ injury problems, and a Monday trip back from the West Coast, three time zones away, it’d stand to reason that fatigue would, at some point, set in, and probably late.
The fourth quarter proved it never would with this group. In fact, that was when Detroit was landing its heaviest blows of the night, with Jahmyr Gibbs and Craig Reynolds combining for 108 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries, Detroit outgaining the Vikings 147 to 16 and what had been a one-possession game becoming a rout.
In the midst of that, Glenn’s defense stood tall, again, forcing a punt and a turnover on downs—and keeping the Vikings from even crossing midfield in the final 15 minutes.
Glenn’s plan, of course, was great. But to his players, there was more to it than just that.
“It’s just his leadership,” Anzalone says. “Obviously, he’s smart. Situationally, he knows every situation better than anyone I’ve ever been around. He knows when to call it, how to call it, and he calls it around our personnel. But at the same time, his leadership, he’s getting guys going, keeping guys accountable, but uplifting them at the same time. I’m excited to see him be a head coach.”
The time for that, of course, sure seems to be coming.
But the job he’s doing now, and has done this year, is what he’s been focused on. And what, of course, was on display again Sunday night.
“A.G. has never made excuses for the circumstances,” Campbell said, via text. “He puts the players we have left in the best position to have success, and every game plan is different. He expects the next man up to do his job with high effort and details, no matter what the skill level is. There is nothing that A.G. doesn’t do well as a man or a coach.
“He embodies everything we’re about and without him our success would not be what it is today!”
What that success is today is unprecedented for the franchise. With Sunday’s win, the Lions will be the top seed in the NFC bracket for the first time. Fifteen wins is a franchise record—and not just for a regular season, but playoffs included. And maybe most meaningful of all, to those there, is that these Lions have withstood a lot on the way here.
But to them, what’s important is what’s still in front of them.
Sunday night was another great example of how they’re headed there—full speed ahead.
