– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official
DETROIT — Every step the Detroit Lions took during the week geared the team for the most crucial play of Thursday’s night NFC North showdown … and then Jared Goff got stepped on, literally.
It didn’t matter. The Lions continue to take steps closer to New Orleans, the site of this year’s Super Bowl, and their hyper aggressive play-calling, like what carried them over the finish line tonight, will continue to be their hallmark under head coach Dan Campbell until the Lombardi Trophy finally comes to the Motor City.
Goff’s recovery from getting tripped up by an offensive lineman to hand the ball off led to David Montgomery’s successful fourth-and-inches run with under 40 seconds remaining, and, two plays later, Jake Bates’ knocked home the game-winning 35-yard field goal on the last play of the game to lift the Lions to a 34-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers inside Ford Field on Thursday night. Goff threw for three touchdowns — two of those coming on fourth downs — as the Lions officially clinched a playoff spot with the win and will participate in the postseason in back-to-back seasons for the first time since since the 1994 and 1995 campaigns.
The Lions set a franchise record with their 11th straight victory and stayed a game ahead of the Minnesota Vikings in the loss column for first place in the NFC North, but it didn’t come without its trials as they played — and won — their third game in an 11-day span. Already missing 13 players on defense coming into the game, the Lions saw more players on that side of the ball go down with injuries, a development that forced Campbell to stress to his team during the week that he was going to put an added burden on the offense to carry the team — namely, being more aggressive than usual, if that’s possible with this team, on fourth downs and other crucial situations.
“I knew how I wanted to play this game,” Campbell said. “The team knew, and everything in me told me, ‘Let’s finish this.’ And we did.”
The game neared its finish after the Lions faced a fourth-and-1 from Green Bay’s 21-yard line with 43 seconds remaining, with a short field goal attempt from Jake Bates the presumed ensuing play call. Instead, Campbell, whose Lions were 3-of-4 on fourth down conversions prior to the latest decision, left his offense out on the field after calling a timeout. And despite running David Montgomery being stopped on third-and-inches, Campbell trusted him, Goff and All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell to create the lane to ensure the Packers would not get the ball back.
The play was to Montgomery, who received the hand-off only after Goff had to execute the exchange from his knees after he was stepped on by one of his offensive lineman soon after taking the snap, and the running back ran right for seven yards to move the chains. Two plays later, Bates came on and knocked home the game-winning 35-yard field goal as time expired.
“I just felt like we needed to end it on offense,” Campbell said. “I did not want to give that ball back. I believed we could get that. I believed we could convert. I trusted that O-Line, I trusted David, and they came through for us.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Aaron J. Thornton. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 17 pictures in total.
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official
