Grit may be the motto, but believing is a major reason the Detroit Lions have jumped out to a 3-1 start.
“I don’t care how talented you are, if you don’t believe you can win games and you don’t believe the coaches can put you in position to win games or you don’t believe the guy next to you is going to do his job, it doesn’t matter. You’ll struggle to win and you’ll always have doubt,’’ coach Dan Campbell said on Friday, the day after the Lions crushed the Packers, 34-20, at Green Bay.
“This team believes, this staff believes. We know we can go into any and every game and we’re going to have a chance to win it as long as we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot,’’ Campbell added.
For starters, they dominate on the offensive and defensive lines. They’re getting contributions across the board including from rookies. Are they perfect? Absolutely not.
“Something else we’re doing well right now, we’re making some errors, but we’re able to overcome those right now and that’s a sign of a good team,’’ Campbell said. “You win back-to-back wins, you can overcome some of your own errors, you can win on the road, those are signs of a good team.’’
All seems to be going well for Campbell’s bunch and another big reason is that he wants violent, physical play and he’s getting it.
The Lions will open as favorites against Carolina on Oct. 8 and it looks like it could continue that way down the stretch. They may have invisible targets on their jerseys but Campbell doesn’t see it that way.
“Our focus has still got to be we’re not hunted, we’re still on the hunt. I said this back in training camp, if you’re hunting us you don’t have to look far, we’ll be on your front porch when you open the door,’’ Campbell said.
After the 34-20 win at Green Bay on Thursday night, the Lions are alone atop the NFC North at 3-1.
“We still have a lot to prove. We want to win this division, we’ve done nothing yet. We’re on course, we like where we’re at. We’re still hungry, we have to approach every game that way no different than last night,’’ the coach said.
He was asked when he’ll be able to let himself dream about how good this team can be.
“I’m not going there. We’ve got our standards and we have our own goals, it started that way it’s always going to be the focus,’’ Campbell said. “You have to look at each game individually.’’
Campbell is more a hunter than a dreamer. That’s exactly what he needs to see from his team for the next 13 games.
UP NEXT: Carolina Panthers (0-3) at Lions (3-1), 1 p.m. on Oct. 8 at Ford Field.)
Lions Lowdown 