Tag: NFC North

Five keys to watch as the Lions face the 49ers; plus injury updates, prediction

When the Vikings defeated the Packers, 27-25, on Sunday, it created a logjam of sorts atop the NFC North. Now it will all come down to the regular season finale when the Lions (13-2) host the Vikings (14-2) on Sunday, Jan. 5, at Ford Field. 

The winner will earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC. The loser will play in the wildcard round. Detroit is 5-0 in the division while Minnesota is 4-1. 

In other words, Monday night’s game at the San Francisco 49ers does not mean anything in the standings or for playoff seeding. But it could be huge for the Lions to get a win to boost confidence before facing the Vikings.

And make no mistake, the 49ers game is still important to coach Dan Campbell. He addressed the possibility last week when asked if he would sit players if the Vikings won.

“We’re bringing everything that we have to this game, and we are playing, and I don’t care what it looks like, and where it’s at or who’s this, who’s that, we’re going out to play and win this game out on the West Coast,’’ Campbell said. “So, there you go.”

A year ago, the Lions fell apart in the second half to lose to the 49ers at San Francisco in the NFC Championship game.

They’ve won 13 games this year and have been in the Super Bowl conversation since Week 1. Still that loss is there somewhere in their heads.

“For us it’s really been difficult at times. It’s been the windshield mentality vs. the rearview mirror. We’re really trying to focus on what we have going forward,’’ Lions running backs coach Scottie Montgomer said. “This is a different team and they’re a different team. That’s kind of where we are.We’re really focused on this year, 2024 and trying to play as well as we can possibly play against this team.’’

Campbell said his team is more mature this year.

“When you take an ‘L’ like we did last year, you learn from that. There were a number of things we did wrong and a number of things they did right, and I think you understand how the game can go and where it can swing and just about keeping your composure and making the most of any rep that comes, because the one that happened in the second quarter could change the game,’’ Campbell said.

“So, I think we’re much more prepared than we were, potentially, even that time. You feel like you are, but until you get into that with a heavyweight, real champion who’d been there numerous times, you don’t always know. And so, I think that experience, as difficult as it was, served us well moving forward into this year, and it’s like anything else, you just – you don’t like to lose, so you’ve got an opportunity with a team that got the best of you, and so you just want to go out and find a way to get a win,’’ the coach added.

Five things to watch:

ONE: Running back Jahmyr Gibbs put on a show without David Montgomery as a sidekick last week and needs to do the same again. “This is what he was built for, this is what he wants to do,’’ Montgomery said. “Now that he has to do what he has to do, this is something we expect from him. He did a good job, we felt that he created. He was very creative on the first level. We also liked him in the passing game once again and we’re finding out he can do those things more and more – interior running game, exterior running game. It’s a chance for him to showcase, in David’s absence, what he can do.’’ In the win over the Bears, he had 23 carries (the most this season) for 109 yards and a touchdown. Gibbs also had four catches for 45 yards. 

TWO: Get off to a fast start like they did against the Bears on Sunday when Detroit was up 13-0 in the first quarter and owned a 27-14 edge at the half.

THREE: Continue to work on the connection between Goff and WR Jameson Williams who has four touchdowns of 50-plus yards this season. The 82-yard touchdown bomb against the Bears last week was a career-long for both of them. Williams, known as Jamo, can be a huge weapon in the postseason. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said he knew it would click between the two but it took two and a half years for their chemistry to get in sync. “When it does click, man, what’s better than a two-play drive? That’s the potential that Jameson has to this offense and it’s a beautiful thing to see a post versus single-high like that,’’ Johnson said. “I know this, it does our offense wonders going into the end of the season here and into the postseason to put that type of stuff on tape.”

FOUR: The Lions defense continues to slowly regain its health while new guys and backups clearly are learning their roles after some of them (that’s you Z’Darius Smith) were thrown in without much time for preparation. The 49ers rank eighth in total offense and can run the ball no matter who carries it. “Listen, we know they’re going to run it, they know they’re going to run it, and their mentality is, ‘Listen, you’re going to have to stop it.’ So, it’s a tough, tough system which requires tough men, which you have to be on your assignment to be able to stop it, and we know that,’’ defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “And if you look at the game from last year, I thought our guys did a really good job early, and then some of their guys started to will themselves into making some plays, and that’s what we really have to do this game. Our top guys have to outwill their top guys, and I’m looking forward to seeing our guys do that.”

FIVE: The 49ers’ passing defense is rated third in the NFL against the Lions’ second-rated passing offense. Something has to give. Jared Goff must play a clean game like he has in recent weeks with just one interception in the last six games. The 49ers may be 6-9 but that doesn’t mean they can’t cause trouble for the Lions.

LIONS INJURY UPDATE:  LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin (neck) is questionable; WR Kalif Raymond (foot) and RB David Montgomery (knee) are out.

NINERS INJURY UPDATE: OG Aaron Banks, DE Robert Beal, OG Spencer Burford, LB Dre Greenlaw and CB Charvarius Ward are out; S Ji’Ayir Brown and OT Colton McKivitz are questionable.

PREDICTION: Lions 34, 49ers 24.

Lions Dan Campbell remains optimistic: ‘We write our own story’

ALLEN PARK — Dan Campbell’s message, coming off just the Lions’ second loss of the season, was simple, direct and very Campbell-esque.

“Look, nobody writes our story, we’re the only ones who write our own story. We have the pen, there’s a lot of football left and I think we’re looking forward to this,’’ Campbell said on Wednesday. “So you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and go back to basics.’’

The Lions (12-2) started preparing for Sunday’s matchup at the Chicago Bears (4-10), following Sunday’s 48-42 loss to the Bills. During the loss, defensive lineman Alim McNeill and safety Carlton Davis III were injured and lost for the season. No other NFL team has sustained so many losses on defense. 

Still no one can convince Campbell that the sky is falling. 

“I don’t believe it. We’ve got plenty here. I’ll tell you what, when we come out of a game and everything that we said we had to do, including our identity, we do that for 60 minutes and we lose a game, I’ll stand up here and tell you, ‘You know what, we just don’t have enough.’ Until that happens, you’re not going to hear me anything about what we have or don’t have, can we do this. We’ve got plenty here on the whole roster – we’ve got plenty on defense.’’

His belief in his squad is unwavering and genuine. And the fact he believes in them gives them more confidence.

“It’s funny, it’s relative because adversity two years ago was different than adversity right now. Watching him stand in the storm at 1-6, and 3-13 (in 2021) whatever, that’s for me what makes his words mean so much more now when we’re 12-2, facing our first loss in the last 12 weeks,’’ quarterback Jared Goff said. 

“If that’s our adversity right now, we’ll be just fine, we’ll handle it, we’ll move on. I think when he stands in front of the room people listen and the way we handle adversity as a team has been pretty good,’’ Goff added.

It is not just the mindset that is key to getting back on track.

“What’s interesting, there are two things that unfold. One is the loss, right? When you haven’t lost since September. So there’s the loss element and then there’s the injury element. Everything gets compacted, you really need to address both and that’s what we did,’’ Campbell said.

First they have to go back to work and reposition themselves to play Sunday and learn from what happened against the Bills. 

“And the other is to not lose confidence in the fact that we still have really good players here on defense and we have good coaches,’’ Campbell said. “We can play any way we need to play from that standpoint, as well as offense and special teams and still win games.’’

“It’s my job to alleviate stress in some areas and just balance the buoy, if you will, and we’ll do that,’’ the coach added.

This bunch is in an unusual position after winning 11 straight games. They’re still atop the NFC North where they are the only team without a division loss. Chicago is 0-4, Green Bay is 1-3 and Minnesota is 3-1.

Yes, it was a bad loss but the season is far from over. They’ve qualified for the playoffs but would love that No. 1 seed.

“That’s why our guys are so good, we’ve got a good group of guys, they don’t like losing,’’ Campbell said. “They don’t lose confidence, they get more aggravated like I do. We want to fix it, we don’t want to lose any more. That’s the plan.’’

INJURY UPDATE: Running back David Montgomery was getting a third opinion on his injured knee. Campbell said they are in a waiting mode with him so have not placed him on injured reserve. The coach sees it as a good sign. Initially, it was thought Montgomery might be out for the season. … Safety Ifeatu Melifonwu was back at practice, opening his window to get back in action after being on injured reserve since he injured his hand in Week 3. … Six players didn’t practice to get some rest on Wednesday. The injured sitting out were DB Brian Branch (calf), G Graham Glasgow (knee) and Montgomery.

Banged-up Lions face division rival Packers; injury updates and prediction

Five things to watch as Packers visit Ford Field

Lions coach Dan Campbell is amped up every week, but perhaps more so as the Lions face the Packers in a huge divisional contest on Thursday night at Ford Field. 

“They have players everywhere and they’re playing good football. So, this is going to be a great matchup,’’ Campbell said. “Back at our place, it’s just another one of those, division game number four, get it back at home against a really good opponent and it’s – there again, this is why you do it. This is why you coach, it’s why you play, so, we’re fired up for this.”

The Lions, who have won all three of their division contests, won the first meeting against the Pack, 24-14, at Lambeau Field on Nov. 3. Since then the Lions are 4-0 while the Packers are 3-0.

“There will be enough carryover, I’m sure for them as well as us. Things that they did well against us, things that we did well, and then you just kind of play off of that,’’ Campbell said. “And there will be wrinkles on both sides. The weather affected a couple of things, but I think all in all, the blueprint’s there for either team, however you want to look at it. So, I don’t see anything being too significant and we get wrinkles every week. We always get something that’s tendency breakers now. So, we pretty much expect that.”

Five things to watch:

ONE: The Lions’ defense must contain Packers RB Josh Jacobs who is having a good season. “Big, powerful, hard to tackle, run after contact, and I said this the first time that we played them, is when you have a running back of that nature, it changes the mindset of the O-line. So now the O-line knows that we have this physical runner, so now that turns into a more physical offensive line and all they have to do is show him, give him a little crease, and they know that he’s going to make three yards out of nothing,’’ Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “Most of those three yards end up getting to be six and seven yards and he’s going to break a tackle. So, I think he fits that scheme perfectly and he’s doing a hell of a job as far as complementing the whole offense which allows now the vertical passing game to show up.”

TWO: Quarterback Jordan Love had a fairly good game in the first meeting of the two, with 273 passing yards and one interception. But when it came to the red zone, the Lions defense held and Green Bay was just one-of-four inside the 20. Since the Packers started leaning more on the run, Love has improved. He threw 11 interceptions in the first eight games but has gone two games without a pick and with a total of four TD passes.

THREE: Against the Bears on Thanksgiving, Detroit’s run game was so effective Chicago barely had the ball on offense. With a depleted defense due to injury, a similar start would be effective. No reason that can’t happen with David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs both healthy. They combined for 138 rushing yards in Green Bay on Nov. 3.

FOUR: Especially with the absence of Alex Anzalone, linebacker Jack Campbell has stepped up. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said he’s their rock. “He’s a man’s man, he loves standing in front of the huddle to give the call to those guys and they really really respect him,’’ Glenn said. “They respect him because of who he is personally, but they respect the way he plays the game, it’s a hundred mph all the time.’’ Campbell amassed 10 tackles in the first meeting with Green Bay.

FIVE: The Lions need Jared Goff to have another big game. While it’s just been a month since they faced each other, both teams have changed a bit and both are still winning. The Packers have won three straight. “They’re playing well and we’ve got our hands full. It’s a good defense, they’re well-coached, they do a lot of really good things, the backend’s good, the linebackers are good, the front four is good, they’re good on every level and we know what we’ve got to take care of,’’ said Goff who as 18 of 22 for 145 yards and a touchdown in their first meeting.

LIONS INJURY UPDATE: LT Taylor Decker (knee), DL Levi Onwuzurike (hamstring), DL Josh Paschal (knee) and DL D.J. Reader (shoulder) are out.

PACKERS INJURY UPDATE: CB Jaire Alexander (knee), WR Romeo Doubs (concussion), LB Edgerrin Cooper (hamstring) and DB Corey Ballentine (knee) are out.

PREDICTION: Lions 27, Packers 24