Detroit Lions face daunting task in Vikings, but all fairytale endings contain obstacles
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Detroit Lions completed their revenge tour Monday night.
They added the San Francisco 49ers to their list of vanquished teams – along with the Dallas Cowboys – that did them wrong the previous season.
With that unfinished business now finished, the Lions can look forward to something even better: a chance at a fairy-tale ending to the regular season.
After the 40-34 win over the Niners at Levi’s Stadium, an ebullient and predictably hoarse Dan Campbell went full Dan Campbell. The Lions coach was bursting with joy as he spoke of Sunday's coming showdown with the Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field for the whole enchilada: The NFC North title, the NFC’s No. 1 seed, a first-round bye in the playoffs and the attached homefield advantage.
"The fact that that both teams are sitting at 14-2," Campbell said, "and it's for the division, and the 1-seed, it just didn't get any better than this. Like this is fairytale stuff."
Penei Sewell seconded that emotion on the team’s behalf.
"These are the types of games you dream of when you’re growing up," the right tackle said. "These are the moments that you live for. Opportunities like this don’t come often. With all that’s on the table, it’s time to put the ball down (and) let’s go."
Years ago, when Jim Schwartz coached the Lions, he made a point of saying it was time to end some of the team’s sorry history and long losing streaks, like the one that went on forever against the Green Bay Packers.
Now that Campbell’s the coach, the Lions have done exactly that. They set a franchise record with their 13th (and now 14) win, they hosted and won a playoff game, they won their first NFC North title, and on Monday they ended a 14-game road losing streak to the Niners that started a few months after "Star Wars" – the original – came out.
As happy as Campbell was about the victory and pending challenge, he also knew he had dodged a bullet by playing his starters in a game rendered meaningless by the Vikings’ victory Sunday.
"I'm probably like you guys that were all here," he told a room of groggy reporters. "Woke up at 2 or whatever this was this morning and it was on my mind. I thought a lot about it. I thought about it leading up to the game. I thought about it last night. I told the staff, but I ended up settling on the right thing to do was play these guys."
Campbell’s main reasoning was valid. Playing a few reserves who hadn’t had first-team reps wouldn’t have been fair to them or their teammates. And yet, he knew he got lucky, with no serious injuries resulting from the game.
"You do cross your fingers nobody gets hurt," he said. "It's tough and we were fortunate."
Campbell’s decision was right, but even though the Lions appeared to come out of the game healthy, the defense is still depleted because of injuries. I won’t pick the Lions to beat the Vikings for that reason, because the Vikings have beaten better teams convincingly recently.
The only quality opponent the Lions have beaten lately is Green Bay, and it was close.
But if there’s a silver lining to playing the starters Monday, it’s that the Lions got to work on some issues in their game, and that they embrace these kinds of challenges.
"We cleaned a lot of things up offensively," Campbell said. "I thought defensively we talked about getting takeaways and we got takeaways. So that'll always serve you well going into the next week. ...
"We knew what this is. You're out on the West Coast. You go, ‘It's all good.’ That's what we do. This is what we do. Like we love it hard, and this is our deal right now. We're looking forward to this, everything about this week."
As daunting of a task as this appears for the Lions, there are a couple of factors that could make a big difference. One is their quarterback, who had another stellar performance, finishing 26-for-34 for 303 yards with three touchdowns.
When a reporter brought up Goff’s five-game losing streak against the Niners, Campbell countered with a different perspective.
"This is a different Jared Goff now," he said. "He's different. This guy has developed and matured, and he's just stepping into his prime. He just continues to get better and better."
Campbell began to search for his next superlative. He paused for a moment.
"He's playing at an ultimate level right now," he said, obviously trying to avoid saying MVP. "You find me a quarterback that's playing better than him in this league right now. I'd love to see it."
The other factor is the hidden potential of the struggling defense that finally showed up. Safety Kerby Joseph’s two interceptions – the team’s first since Nov. 17 – set up two touchdowns and tilted the possession battle in the Lions’ favor.
"That’s complementary football 101," center Frank Ragnow said, "and that’s what playoff teams are supposed to do. That that was huge for us."
Goff’s steady, stellar play and Joseph’s innate ball-hawking skill could be just enough for the Lions to overcome their defensive woes. It’s a daunting task and it doesn’t look promising for the Lions. But then isn’t there always some sort of insurmountable obstacle that leads to a fairytale ending?
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.