DETROIT, MI (AP) — The Detroit Lions haven’t won a division championship in over 30 years.
It wasn’t going to be simple to break that streak.
The Lions were 7-2 ten days ago and faced a pair of home games against the faltering Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. A pair of wins would have put them in possession of the NFC North and allowed them to host their first playoff game since moving to Ford Field in 2002.
On Friday, the Lions were relieved that things didn’t become any worse.
Detroit needed 17 points in the final three minutes to defeat the Bears 31-26 before falling to the Packers 29-22 on Thanksgiving Day.
“I see what it appears to be — we haven’t been good enough out there — but I’m not worried,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “It doesn’t matter who we play, if we don’t play our best game and the other team is perfect, things like this will happen.”
“We’re the type of team that has to fight, scratch, and claw for everything.” We can’t be on autopilot.”
The Lions have battled on all sides of the field, but none more so than quarterback Jared Goff. He fumbled three times against the Packers after tossing three interceptions against the Bears.
“There have certainly been some games where I should have taken better care of the ball.”
The Lions don’t play again until Dec. 3 against the New Orleans Saints, and Campbell intends to use that time to get things back on track.”We’re going to clean up some things and then we’ve got six games to go,” he told reporters. “If we turn the ball over three times against everyone we play, the odds of winning are going to be pretty slim, but I don’t see that happening.”
WHAT IS SUCCESSIVE
Rookie defense Brian Branch has emerged as the defense’s primary playmaker. He led the team with eight tackles against Green Bay after recording three tackles for loss against the Bears. His season began with a pick-6 against Patrick Mahomes in Detroit’s win over Kansas City, and he’s also been highly efficient as a special teams player.
