CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The Detroit Lions have won four straight games and find themselves back in first place in the division and atop the NFC.
It’s been quite the recovery from the brutal season-opening loss in Green Bay. And the best part about this stretch has to be that the Lions still have not hit their peak, with things to clean up and some serious reinforcements on the way.
“I know, for me, I said this going on, here we go, two weeks in a row -- and we got two wins out of that -- is you can get frustrated at times about some of the ebbs and the flows of the game,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said after the 37-24 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. “Man, we play so good, and then there’s these stretches where it’s ... But, ultimately, what I feel good about is what I already mentioned, and that’s the complementary football. When we need it most, our defense steps up. When we need it most, our offense steps up. When we need it most, special teams steps up. Those are signs of great teams.
“We’ve got that part of it. That’s the hard part. We got that. The other stuff? We can clean that up. And I think in that regard, yes, we still have so much growth left collectively. That’s the exciting thing.”
On Sunday, the Lions jumped out to a commanding lead, going into the fourth quarter 28-3. But they let the Bengals score three touchdowns, making the score look much closer than it was for most of the day. Detroit’s defense led the charge for 45 minutes, then finished strong at the very end. But the offense and special teams found ways to fill in the gaps.
Jack Fox, with an assist from Isaac TeSlaa, pinned the Bengals at the 1-yard line. And the offense took advantage of the team’s three takeaways, adding the clinching score in the fourth quarter, to prove Campbell’s point of the complementary football.
MLive’s Dungeon of Doom podcast echoed those statements after the team’s win in Cincinnati. Hosts Kory Woods and Ben Raven pointed to the fact this this new-look offensive line and two new coordinators are only five games into the year. They also pointed to the impending returns of Alim McNeill and Malcolm Rodriguez, not to mention the fact that cornerback D.J. Reed and edge rusher Marcus Davenport are expected back this season.
Raven said his confidence in this team was always high entering the season. But after the tough opener, it dropped from 99.9% to 85%, citing the growing pains with all the new pieces and coaches. However, after the last four games and how the team has responded, Raven not sits at 110% belief in these Lions moving forward.
“This is a bonafide contender. This is a team that I expect to be right there in the running for the No. 1 seed in the NFC. This is a team I expect to three-peat in the NFC North,” Raven said.
Woods added that last year it was all about the pieces the Lions lost down the stretch. This year, there are some missing pieces, but there is also a massive boost en route with some of those inching closer to a return.
See below to listen to the latest postgame Dungeon of Doom podcast episode:
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