Niyo: In pasting Packers, Lions look like new kings of the North
John Niyo
The Detroit News
Green Bay, Wis. — Sometimes the best way to ascend to the throne is to seize it by force.
And after 30 years of subjugation in the NFC North — and the NFC Central before that — the power-hungry Lions finally look like a team prepared to do just that.
It’s too soon to officially crown them as the new Kings of the North. But Thursday’s dominant 34-20 win in Green Bay before a prime-time national TV audience felt like a castle storming just the same, because the visitors didn’t merely take control of this game or an early lead in a division that looks ripe for the taking.
They also took over Lambeau Field, where a mob of Lions fans — perhaps 15,000 or more — turned the Packers’ storied home-field advantage into a true-blue embarrassment once again. Chants of “Let’s go, Lions!” serenaded the victors as they high-fived fans behind their bench and then headed up the tunnel, and a knowing smile creased Dan Campbell’s face when he was asked about it in his postgame press conference.
“It’s pretty cool,” Campbell said. “We've got a fanbase. … And once again, early in the fourth (quarter), you could start hearing them, and they’re overpowering the stadium. It’s awesome. You feel like there’s a little piece of home no matter where you go.”
It was that way at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, where the Lions kicked off the season by upsetting the defending Super Bowl champs. And it was that way here in Green Bay back in January, where Campbell’s team ended the Packers’ playoff hopes and Aaron Rodgers’ remarkable career in green and gold. The Lions, who didn’t even get a prime-time TV game until Week 18 last season, now have two prime-time road wins in the first month of 2023.
But this is the way the Lions’ new regime has insisted it will have to be if this franchise is ever going to get over the hump.
“And I just keep making this point, man: Nothing is given in this league,” Campbell said Thursday night as his team won for the 11th time in its last 14 outings. “There are no handouts. You’ve got to earn it.”
This was no handout Thursday, though. This was a mugging.
“I mean, you saw it: We got our ass kicked,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “Give Detroit credit. We knew they were a tough opponent, but they manhandled us, really in every phase.”
And that was the case even as the Lions spotted the Packers a 3-0 lead, with Jared Goff making a late throw over the middle for an interception on the game’s opening drive. Green Bay took over at Detroit’s 16-yard line and immediately went nowhere, as Aidan Hutchinson’s second-down sack of Jordan Love essentially forced LaFleur to settle for a field goal.
After that, the manhandling only got more one-sided. The Lions scored 24 points on their next four possessions and outgained the Packers by a 284-to-21 margin in the first half. Green Bay only managed three first downs in the half, and two of those came via Detroit penalties.
“Humliliating” and “embarrassing” was how LaFleur described that first half, and after challenging his team to respond, they did in the third quarter. But so would the Lions, particularly after Love’s quarterback draw cut the lead to 27-17 to start the fourth quarter.
The Lions followed that with a grinding, 14-play drive that chewed up nearly 9 minutes on the clock and was capped by four straight runs from David Montgomery, the last a 1-yard plunge on fourth-and-goal.
Montgomery, who’d missed last week’s win over Atlanta with a painful thigh bruise, was one of a few starters who’d been listed as questionable to play due Thursday. Campbell said he knew by Wednesday that Montgomery was ready to roll, however, and not just because of the way he was moving on the practice field.
“You could just see the look in his eye, too,” Campbell said. “He was ready to go, and we were gonna take him as far as he wanted to go, or as far as his body would let him.”
Montgomery went for 121 yards on a whopping 32 carries — the Lions rushed for 211 as a team — and his three rushing touchdowns were a franchise-best for a Detroit running back at Lambeau Field. But this was also a first for Montgomery, who’d been winless in eight games against Green Bay while playing for the Chicago Bears the previous four seasons.
“It just felt different,” he said. “It felt real different coming in.”
This feeling, though, is one the Lions — and their fans — better start getting used to now. Winning on the road. Overpowering a division rival. Beating back second-half comebacks. Salting away wins in the fourth quarter. And, yes, laughing afterward about all of it.
Amon-Ra St. Brown joked about getting a beer poured on his head when he made the Lambeau Leap into the stands after his opening touchdown. ("I was a little tipsy as I came down," he smiled.) Hutchinson talked about growing up in the Detroit area and watching Rodgers routinely torture the Lions all those years. (“Aaron’s out the division, life is good,” he grinned.)
But this is how life is supposed to feel when you’re on top, as the Lions are now in the NFC North, essentially two games up on Green Bay and well clear of the winless Vikings and Bears.
And this is how it’s supposed to look if you’re truly championship material. It's what Lions owner Sheila Hamp was talking about when she accepted the game ball from Campbell after that win here in January and told the Lions' players, "All roads to Detroit," before adding, "Through Detroit.”
They're not even a quarter of the way through this season yet, and the long road ahead is something they were all quick to acknowledge amid the euphoria of Thursday night's win. Still, the players understand this is the blueprint.
“Yeah, it was fun, man,” said Goff, who, by the way, has quarterbacked the Lions to four consecutive wins over the Packers. “It's complimentary football. And that’s what the good teams do, you know? You make a bad play, they hold them to three. They get a turnover, we score points. That type of stuff, it's what the good teams do. …
“We have that confidence. Send us anywhere, line us up against anyone and we feel like we can go in there and beat them. And that's a good feeling to have.”
john.niyo@detroitnews.com
Twitter/X: @JohnNiyo
John Niyo
The Detroit News
Green Bay, Wis. — Sometimes the best way to ascend to the throne is to seize it by force.
And after 30 years of subjugation in the NFC North — and the NFC Central before that — the power-hungry Lions finally look like a team prepared to do just that.
It’s too soon to officially crown them as the new Kings of the North. But Thursday’s dominant 34-20 win in Green Bay before a prime-time national TV audience felt like a castle storming just the same, because the visitors didn’t merely take control of this game or an early lead in a division that looks ripe for the taking.
They also took over Lambeau Field, where a mob of Lions fans — perhaps 15,000 or more — turned the Packers’ storied home-field advantage into a true-blue embarrassment once again. Chants of “Let’s go, Lions!” serenaded the victors as they high-fived fans behind their bench and then headed up the tunnel, and a knowing smile creased Dan Campbell’s face when he was asked about it in his postgame press conference.
“It’s pretty cool,” Campbell said. “We've got a fanbase. … And once again, early in the fourth (quarter), you could start hearing them, and they’re overpowering the stadium. It’s awesome. You feel like there’s a little piece of home no matter where you go.”
It was that way at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, where the Lions kicked off the season by upsetting the defending Super Bowl champs. And it was that way here in Green Bay back in January, where Campbell’s team ended the Packers’ playoff hopes and Aaron Rodgers’ remarkable career in green and gold. The Lions, who didn’t even get a prime-time TV game until Week 18 last season, now have two prime-time road wins in the first month of 2023.
But this is the way the Lions’ new regime has insisted it will have to be if this franchise is ever going to get over the hump.
“And I just keep making this point, man: Nothing is given in this league,” Campbell said Thursday night as his team won for the 11th time in its last 14 outings. “There are no handouts. You’ve got to earn it.”
This was no handout Thursday, though. This was a mugging.
“I mean, you saw it: We got our ass kicked,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “Give Detroit credit. We knew they were a tough opponent, but they manhandled us, really in every phase.”
And that was the case even as the Lions spotted the Packers a 3-0 lead, with Jared Goff making a late throw over the middle for an interception on the game’s opening drive. Green Bay took over at Detroit’s 16-yard line and immediately went nowhere, as Aidan Hutchinson’s second-down sack of Jordan Love essentially forced LaFleur to settle for a field goal.
After that, the manhandling only got more one-sided. The Lions scored 24 points on their next four possessions and outgained the Packers by a 284-to-21 margin in the first half. Green Bay only managed three first downs in the half, and two of those came via Detroit penalties.
“Humliliating” and “embarrassing” was how LaFleur described that first half, and after challenging his team to respond, they did in the third quarter. But so would the Lions, particularly after Love’s quarterback draw cut the lead to 27-17 to start the fourth quarter.
The Lions followed that with a grinding, 14-play drive that chewed up nearly 9 minutes on the clock and was capped by four straight runs from David Montgomery, the last a 1-yard plunge on fourth-and-goal.
Montgomery, who’d missed last week’s win over Atlanta with a painful thigh bruise, was one of a few starters who’d been listed as questionable to play due Thursday. Campbell said he knew by Wednesday that Montgomery was ready to roll, however, and not just because of the way he was moving on the practice field.
“You could just see the look in his eye, too,” Campbell said. “He was ready to go, and we were gonna take him as far as he wanted to go, or as far as his body would let him.”
Montgomery went for 121 yards on a whopping 32 carries — the Lions rushed for 211 as a team — and his three rushing touchdowns were a franchise-best for a Detroit running back at Lambeau Field. But this was also a first for Montgomery, who’d been winless in eight games against Green Bay while playing for the Chicago Bears the previous four seasons.
“It just felt different,” he said. “It felt real different coming in.”
This feeling, though, is one the Lions — and their fans — better start getting used to now. Winning on the road. Overpowering a division rival. Beating back second-half comebacks. Salting away wins in the fourth quarter. And, yes, laughing afterward about all of it.
Amon-Ra St. Brown joked about getting a beer poured on his head when he made the Lambeau Leap into the stands after his opening touchdown. ("I was a little tipsy as I came down," he smiled.) Hutchinson talked about growing up in the Detroit area and watching Rodgers routinely torture the Lions all those years. (“Aaron’s out the division, life is good,” he grinned.)
But this is how life is supposed to feel when you’re on top, as the Lions are now in the NFC North, essentially two games up on Green Bay and well clear of the winless Vikings and Bears.
And this is how it’s supposed to look if you’re truly championship material. It's what Lions owner Sheila Hamp was talking about when she accepted the game ball from Campbell after that win here in January and told the Lions' players, "All roads to Detroit," before adding, "Through Detroit.”
They're not even a quarter of the way through this season yet, and the long road ahead is something they were all quick to acknowledge amid the euphoria of Thursday night's win. Still, the players understand this is the blueprint.
“Yeah, it was fun, man,” said Goff, who, by the way, has quarterbacked the Lions to four consecutive wins over the Packers. “It's complimentary football. And that’s what the good teams do, you know? You make a bad play, they hold them to three. They get a turnover, we score points. That type of stuff, it's what the good teams do. …
“We have that confidence. Send us anywhere, line us up against anyone and we feel like we can go in there and beat them. And that's a good feeling to have.”
john.niyo@detroitnews.com
Twitter/X: @JohnNiyo
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