Under coach Dan Campbell the Lions have piled up amazing statistics on their way to two straight NFC North titles.
One stat seems to stand out. The Lions have not lost back-to-back games since October 2022 when they fell to Miami and Dallas.
That streak gets tested on Monday night when the Lions (4-2) host the Tampa Bay Bucs (5-1). Detroit is coming off a 30-17 loss at Kansas City. The bounce-back stat is on the line. If it was easy to accomplish this season after season, more teams would do it.
“It’s our players, we have a good group of guys that are competitive, they’re a resilient group, they know how to overcome adversity,’’ Campbell said. “They don’t like losing. And they go back to work to fix the things that need to be fixed. We have a couple things to clean up and we’re going to clean them up this week. So it’s our players man, coaches do a helluva job too.’’
The Lions lost just two regular season games in 2024 and one of them was to the Bucs in Week 2. They bounced back after that with 11 straight wins.
“We’ve gotten each other, I don’t know, four or five times now in the last handful of years. And it feels like we’ve given them a good punch and they’ve given us a good punch. We’ve kind of gone back and forth in that way,’’ quarterback Jared Goff said. “And I think a lot of who they are is a lot of who we want to be too. And again, I’d hope they’d say the same thing about the respect they have for us, the respect we have for their team, how hard they play, how well they’re coached, the whole thing. It’s great. It’s a good, fun I guess rivalry, if you want to call it that and I think they’re a good team.”
Five things to watch:
ONE: Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield is a challenge even with a fully healthy secondary which the Lions do not have. “Baker makes that offense go, and it’s been that way no matter who the play-caller has been over the last couple season. … He’s a tough guy. He’s a tough guy to deal with because when it seems like there’s nothing there, he finds a way to pull his team through,’’ Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said. “So, he makes that thing go. The coordinators are smart because they don’t try to change much, they understand what works for him and they carried over. There’s some nuances that changed motion-wise, schematically, but for the most part it’s Baker’s show.” In the Bucs 20-16 win over the Lions last year Mayfield scored on passing and running touchdowns. The Lions secondary will be without Terrion Arnold, Brian Branch, Kerby Joseph and Avonte Maddox.
TWO: It’s an understatement to say DL Alim McNeill has been missed since he tore up his knee late last season. He will be back in action on Monday. “I expect Alim to come in and show what he’s shown the last two weeks on the practice field. Like I said, it’s like he didn’t miss a beat,’’ Sheppard said. “Now, obviously you’re not taking hard-core doubles and true pounding and – you know that live in-game you may find yourself in kind of an eight-play sequence there that you can’t simulate on the field. So, it’s all that stuff – getting his legs back up under him. But I mean I expect this player to play at a high level and more importantly help our defense in a tremendous way.”
THREE: The Lions offensive line is coming together despite playing without LT Taylor Decker for two games. Decker could possibly return against the Bucs which would be huge since they’ll be facing nose tackle Vita Vea (6-foot-4, 347 pounds) who has 2.5 sacks to start the season. “The size is one thing but (Vea’s) quickness to get off the ball. He’s got explosiveness and he’s got really good feet. When you’re (facing) a man that big and can move like he moves you have to do everything right and you’ve got to play with leverage,’’ Campbell said. “You have to get off of your life. We have double teams, we have to fit the double teams together. You’re off just a little bit he’ll spit you, he’ll crease you, he’ll get an edge. He’ll do that in the pass game too. He’ll swim sometimes and so if you’re not locked in and you’re not perfect fundamentally he’ll get on you. We have to be locked in on every stinking play and we have to play together.’
FOUR: All the talk about the change in offensive coordinators came to an end quickly. One main reason is the play of Jared Goff who leads the NFL in passing TDs (14) and passing percentage (75.9). “I mean, he’s the CEO of this place. So, when you’ve got a veteran guy like that, we’re always talking, ‘Hey I want this, I want that. I’d like to have this.’ It’s awesome. When you have that dialogue with the quarterback, it just makes it so much easier for me and everybody,’’ offensive coordinator John Morton said. “Everybody sees how much confidence he has to do things, and it’s paid off for us. So yeah, it’s big time.” Goff said he’s always tried to keep the ball in his teammates’ hands and avoid sacks. “Those two things, completion percentage and low sack numbers, is something I work on and something we’ve done a good job with up to this point,’’ said Goff who has been sacked nine times this season with four of those in the opening loss.
FIVE: Tampa Bay’s coach Todd Bowles is known for switching things up which creates headaches for guys like Morton. “Listen, we have to prepare for everything. Protection-wise, that’s the biggest thing. You give them all the looks that you can give, especially the things that they’re doing this year,’’ Morton said. “You’ve already played them three times, you go back there, and you look at those games. You look at games of other teams that are similar to us, similar to the quarterback. … But the biggest thing is, we try to make sure (Goff is) protected. Because when he’s protected, he’s deadly.’’
LIONS INJURIES: OUT: CB Terrion Arnold (shoulder), Kerby Joseph (knee), DB Avonte Maddox (hamstring) and RB Sione Vaki (groin). QUESTIONABLE: LT Taylor Decker (shoulder), DT D.J. Reader (back) and DT Alim McNeill (knee).
SUSPENDED: DB Brian Branch
BUCS INJURIES: OUT: WR Chris Godwin Jr. (fibula), G Luke Haggard (shoulder), RB Bucky Irving (foot/shoulder); QUESTIONABLE: WR Mike Evans (hamstring), WR Emeka Egbuka (hamstring), LB Lavonte David (knee/rib), QB Teddy Bridgewater (illness).
PREDICTION: Lions 28, Bucs 27
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