CHICAGO, Ill. — Dan Campbell’s team just accomplished something no other Detroit Lions squad has ever done.
The Lions beat the Chicago Bears in Week 16 action, 34-17, for their 13th victory, setting a new franchise record for wins in a single season. Campbell jumped in front of questions about the milestone, making his thoughts known during his introductory remarks.
It was an important win for playoff seeding and repeating as NFC North champions. And it was also a step back in the right direction after losing a tough shootout against the Buffalo Bills.
But Campbell knew his team would answer that challenge, saying they approached this game back on the road with the right mindset from the jump.
“It takes a special group of guys to emotionally, physically, psychologically bounce back after a tough loss, especially when you haven’t lost in a while,” Campbell said. “Go out and win on the road again. I told the guys that I did know that that was a team record, franchise record — 13 wins.
“It’s never been done. I told them one day, we’ll be able to look back and enjoy that. But not yet. It’s not the time.”
The Lions also set a new single-season record for points scored, topping the 474 points scored in the 2011 campaign.
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Campbell’s attention, even after the Washington Commanders beat the Philadelphia Eagles as he was speaking, remained on the team controlling their own destiny.
Jared Goff said the Lions will deploy the 24-hour rule to feel good about this one before turning their attention back to the task ahead. He said they’ll enjoy this one and then get back to it after another high-powered showing.
“Sure, enjoying a win like this and enjoying the postgame,” Goff said. “But then tomorrow and Tuesday, coming right back down to Earth and going back to work. I think Dan leads the charge in that.
“But we are so good at focusing on what matters. We lose last week, everyone thinks we’re done now. And it’s like, ‘All right, forget that. That’s not even part of our process. We’re going to go back to what we do,’ go back to work, and we did just that.”
The Lions are back on the road next week in another prime-time game. They’ll face the San Francisco 49ers in an NFC title game rematch on Monday Night Football. It’s a chance to get another win inside the conference and to get one back on the team that ended their season one year ago.
“We got our work cut out for us next week,” Campbell said. “San Francisco on the road. Very good team.
“But as far as today? We did what we had to do. Got two takeaways and turned those into 10 points. Got up on them early and really was able to control the game. I thought we played that game the right way. I thought we played it the right way. It’s a good job.”
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