The Detroit Lions are the only NFL team never to have made a Super Bowl, a 58-year streak that finally could come to an end this season.
Behind an uber-physical offensive line, an ultra-aggressive coach, and defenses and offenses full of some of the league’s most promising players, the Lions already clinched a playoff spot by alternately crushing opponents and being more creative.
Yet less than a month before the playoffs begin, their Super Bowl ambitions are in danger of being derailed — because one of the league’s best teams has become one of its most injured.
In all, 13 Lions defenders were listed on injured reserve entering Sunday’s potential Super Bowl preview against Buffalo. Then, the attrition got worse.
In a 48-42 loss to the Bills that dropped the Lions to 12-2 and ended their 11-game winning streak, starting defensive tackle Alim McNeill suffered a season-ending torn ACL; cornerback and special-teams standout Khalil Dorsey suffered a season-ending ankle injury; and starting cornerback Carlton Davis III fractured his jaw, according to reports. The earliest that Davis could return would be the NFC championship game, NFL Network reported.
The Lions’ league-leading offense also wasn’t spared Sunday. Running back David Montgomery, who had scored 12 rushing touchdowns and gained 1,116 yards from scrimmage as a rusher and receiver, sprained his MCL and could miss the rest of the season. Montgomery was half of the Lions’ dangerous ball-carrying tandem, along with Jahmyr Gibbs.
Currently, 22 Lions players are either listed on injured reserve or considered out, a depth-sapping run that began during the first preseason game when defensive tackle David Bada injured his Achilles tendon. In mid-October, a gruesome broken leg sidelined star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. In mid-November, linebacker Alex Anzalone broke his left forearm in a collision with a teammate. A few weeks later, rookie defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo was lost for the season with a knee injury.
Of the 11 Lions defensive starters in the Week 1 season-opener, six have since suffered long-term injuries.
On Sunday, quarterback Jared Goff told reporters, “I’m sure there will be a ton of stuff written about the sky falling, but no, internally, we’re good.”
Two days later, Lions coach Dan Campbell went on a local radio station in Detroit and delivered a fiery Lions state of the union that pushed back on the idea that the Lions’ window as a Super Bowl contender this season had closed.
“We can’t let these injuries be in vain,” Campbell said on 97.1 The Ticket. “All of those players helped us get to the point we’re at. These last four (injured players) helped us get to 12 wins, and we owe it to them to finish this thing out. And that’s how I view it.
“So, it means there’s another opportunity for other guys. You know what happens is you win 11 in a row and you lose, and then the sky falls. I hate to say it, but we’re not going to be able to win 11 in a row again for the rest of this season. We’re just not going to be able to do it.
“What happens is you get used to eating filet — and I’m talking all of us — and everything’s good. Life’s good, but you forgot what it’s like when you had nothing and you ate your [expletive] molded bread, and it was just fine. And it gave you everything you needed. Sometimes you’ve got to get punched in the mouth and remember what it used to be like to really appreciate where you are, and we’ll do that.”
Though injuries are commonplace in the NFL — Kansas City, another Super Bowl contender, is awaiting more clarity on whether Patrick Mahomes (ankle) can play this week — the sheer number of Lions injuries is unusual.
Just don’t tell that to Campbell.
“We’re going to friggin’ cut it loose,” he said. “We’re going to play with our special teams. And I don’t give a crap if we gotta win by 1 point for the rest of the year, that’s what we’re going to do.”
