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The NFL couldn't have written a better script.
The Detroit Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings in the regular-season finale on Sunday, 30-20, to tie the franchise record for most wins in a season, and their reward in the playoffs will be a Wild Card game next week against old friend Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams at Ford Field. .
The Lions traded Stafford to the Rams to begin the rebuilding process three years ago this month, weeks after hiring Dan Campbell as head coach and Brad Holmes (of the Rams' front office) as general manager.
Stafford led the Rams to the Super Bowl in his first season in Los Angeles, while his old team — the team he never led to playoff success — flourished thanks in part to his replacement, Rams QB Jared Goff, and three draft picks. They acquired it in the deal.
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It's not for all marble.
The Lions would need to win three straight playoff games, likely two of them on the road, to be in this spot.
But it's a marquee game for the wild-card playoff round, and all eyes will be on Campbell, Goff and the Lions, who are playing their first home postseason game in 30 years.
“I think we're ready, man,” Goff said after the Lions' win over the Vikings. “I think Dan said it best at the end no one has been through the kind of adversity that this group has been through over the last couple of years. We're ready. Yeah, we're ready. It's like we've been waiting a while to get these opportunities and now they're here.” “Ford Field is going to be rocking, it’s going to be fun.”
Asked about the possibility of playing for the Rams, who needed to win a game late Sunday afternoon against the San Francisco 49ers to secure a game, Goff said: “It could be them, it could be someone else. We'll see. There's a lot.” “Friends in this team and it will be good to see them, but yeah, we'll see who he is.”
The Lions (12-5) played Goff and their full starters on Sunday with hopes of moving up from the three-seed and missing two key contributors to knee injuries in the process.
Tight end Sam LaPorta, the Lions' leading receiver, left late in the first half with a left knee injury that left Campbell pessimistic about his chances to play in the first round of the playoffs, and punt returner Calif Raymond suffered a similar injury in the fourth quarter.
The 49ers are the top seed in the NFC and have a bye in the first round, despite losing on Sunday, and the Dallas Cowboys beat the Washington Commanders to secure the No. 2 seed.
The Cowboys host the Green Bay Packers in their opener, while the NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the reeling Philadelphia Eagles.
If the Lions beat the Rams next week, they will be in line for a divisional round rematch with the Cowboys. The Cowboys beat the Lions last week, 20-19, after officials denied the Lions a contested two-point conversion. Stafford also lost a disputed playoff game to the Cowboys as the Lions' starting quarterback in the 2014 postseason, when officials picked up a penalty flag in the fourth quarter for pass interference.
However, Campbell said his players will be ready for whatever comes with the playoffs.
“There's not going to be a need to worry about guys getting up for the playoffs and the level of intensity. It's going to be there,” Campbell said. “It's just sticking to the formula and what you're doing and the way you prepare. And as long as you're dealing with that, what happens now is all the horses are there and they just want to get away, and if you start doing something – you're itching to play and you start putting too much pressure, and then that puts pressure on someone else around you, and that's what can cost you in the future. Often times when you enter these environments in a tournament.
“So, just again, worry about your accountability, and your plays will come. Playing within the system, the other thing is pressure. Pressure. People will crack under pressure. I feel like this team has been under tremendous pressure and we've risen to the challenge. So I feel like they're ready for it.” “
Shades of black:Jared Goff and Dan Campbell help set the playoffs
On Sunday, the Lions played freely and beat the Vikings (7-10) for the second time in three weeks.
Laporta and Jahmir Gibbs scored twice in the first quarter as the Lions took a 13-0 lead. Aidan Hutchinson had two sacks and the Lions intercepted two passes from Nick Mullins in the fourth quarter to seal the win. Goff spent the final series of the game throwing short completions to Josh Reynolds to help the receiver get onto the $250,000 escalator of reaching 600 receiving yards on the season.
Reynolds, who entered the game needing 36 yards to collect the check, finished with five catches for 44 yards; He caught four passes for 26 yards on the Lions' final four offensive plays.
“This player does all the dirty work he does for us, all the stuff in the run game, all the blocking, all the unselfish plays, and then we're going to do whatever it takes to get something that he's got,” Campbell said. “That's the mentality, that's all.”
Goff completed 23 of 32 passes for 320 yards, St. Brown caught seven passes for 144 yards and scored on a 70-yard catch-and-run, and David Montgomery had 10 passes for 40 yards to top 1,000 yards rushing for the second time in his career. Professional life.
Montgomery scored on a one-yard run midway through the third quarter to give the Lions a 20-6 lead, then Mullens threw late touchdown passes to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison to keep the score in doubt until C.J. Gardner-Johnson played. For the first time since he tore a pectoral muscle in Week 2, he intercepted his first pass of the season with 2:08 to play.
Mullins completed 30 of 44 passes for 396 yards and Jefferson caught 12 passes for 192 yards for the Vikings, who missed the playoffs one year after winning the NFC North.
“We wanted to come in and finish the year strong before the playoffs,” St. Brown said. “I think this will push us into a tough tournament that some of us didn't participate in, some of us did. So we finished the year as strong as we wanted to. Now it's win or go home at the moment.
Contact Dave Birkett at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @devperkit.
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