DETROIT — Dan Campbell said it at the end of last season. Brad Holmes just confirmed it. When you’re a Super Bowl favorite, as the Lions clearly are, you treat every shot as if it’s your only shot.

Holmes did precisely what he needed to do Tuesday, acquiring legitimate pass-rush help, and did it for a reasonable price. No, Za’Darius Smith won’t fully compensate for the loss of Aidan Hutchinson and the Lions’ other injured edge rushers. But when the Super Bowl window is open — wide open — you grab any help you can get, and Smith is a good get.

With six straight thumping victories and a first-place stranglehold in the NFC North, the 7-1 Lions are acting like they’ve been here before. And this essential deadline deal showed they’re acting like they plan to go further. A year ago, a Super Bowl run was a fun, fanciful notion. Now, it’s becoming a mandate, and the Lions indeed might be the favorites.

They’re up there with the defending champion Chiefs (8-0), Ravens and Bills in the AFC, and those teams also fortified with trades. The Chiefs’ splash came earlier, adding receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and he scored two touchdowns Monday night. The Lions weren’t in position to stand pat, even though they’re standing fairly pretty right now. They’ve beaten their primary NFC challengers, the Vikings and Packers, on the road, and other contenders include the Eagles (no surprise) and the Commanders with rookie Jayden Daniels (a big surprise).

Smith, 32, doesn’t have to be a cornerstone for years, although he is signed through 2025. He just has to do what he’s done for most of his 10 NFL seasons, the past one-and-a-half with the Browns — go get the quarterback. The Browns reportedly coveted a fourth-round pick for Smith, but Holmes held firm and surrendered a fifth and a sixth, and got back a seventh.

Should the Lions have aimed even higher? Well, that depends on price and availability, and by all accounts, elite talent like the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby and the Browns’ Myles Garrett weren’t being traded.

The Lions needed someone, and Holmes actually acquired the Best Available Someone, one of the biggest names traded Tuesday. Smith has five sacks in nine games for the lowly Browns, and posted 5 1/2 sacks last season. He tallied 10 sacks as recently as 2022 with the Vikings. The three-time Pro Bowler has 65 career sacks and joins a Lions defense that’s played well with a ball-hawking secondary and a staunch defensive line, anchored by Alim McNeill and DJ Reader.

But pressure from the edge has been sparse since the Lions lost their top three to injury, including Marcus Davenport and Derrick Barnes. When Hutchinson went down with a broken leg against the Cowboys, he led the team with 7 1/2 sacks. He still leads the team, and the Lions have collected only five in three games since. Just one has come from an edge rusher, Josh Paschal, who has been out with an illness.

"(Smith) provides a lot,” Campbell told Fox 2. “I feel like this guy’s a total defensive end, and certainly he can get to the quarterback.”

Frankly, the Lions could’ve doubled down for another rusher, such as the Giants’ Azeez Ojulari or the Saints’ Carl Granderson, but neither was traded. I have no idea what it would’ve cost, in the short term and long term. But as the Lions continue their remarkable rise, short-term rules now apply.

Not so subtly, the mindset shifted after the NFC Championship Game loss to the 49ers, when the Lions squandered a 24-7 halftime lead and fell, 34-31. Campbell left his team with a strong message.

“I told those guys, this may have been our only shot,” Campbell said in January. “Do I think that? No. Do I believe that? No. However, I know how hard it is to get here. I’m well aware. It’s going to be twice as hard to get back to this point next year than it was last year. That’s the reality.”

The Lions are trying to defy reality with a top-ranked offense that keeps posting obscene numbers. Jared Goff has completed 82.8% of his passes during the six-game winning streak, and the Lions have tallied more touchdowns (28) than incompletions (24) in that stretch, a first in NFL history.

Goff compared the Lions to a chameleon, capable of shifting form depending on the environment or circumstance. In the rain of Green Bay, Goff and the offense were nearly flawless, and hit the ground hard with running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. Amon-Ra St. Brown had seven receptions and has made the catch the last 30 times he’s been targeted, an astonishing streak.

After the 24-14 victory at Green Bay, Campbell was asked Monday if he thought the Lions were the best team in the NFL. He answered about as honestly and humbly as he could.

“I mean that’s hard to say,” Campbell said. “Certainly, I feel like we can beat anybody in the league, and I think that’s what it’s about.”

The Lions’ offensive numbers — a league-best 32.3 points per game — might be sustainable because they truly are built for anything, with an outstanding offensive line and outstanding coordinator, Ben Johnson. Some of the Lions’ defensive numbers are impressive, leading the league with a plus-11 turnover differential, sixth in points allowed (18.5). But for all of Aaron Glenn’s clever scheming and personnel shuffling, it’s hard to maintain without a menacing edge rusher.

Smith was menacing in 2019-20 with the Packers, recording sack totals of 13 1/2 and 12 1/2, then played one season in Minnesota and a year-and-a-half in Cleveland. He made it known he’d love to return to the NFC North and compete against old friends in Green Bay and Minnesota. He’s lauded for his competitiveness and leadership, and reportedly signed with the Vikings in 2022 partly to get back at his former team.

In fact, when weeks-long negotiations between the Lions and Browns appeared to break down early Tuesday, Smith sent out a tweet that simply said, “SMH.” He deleted it, but instead of “Shaking my head” perhaps he meant, “Send me home.”

He seems like a true NFC North guy, the type of combative player the Lions crave. He plays like a classic Campbell guy and arrives after a classic Holmes’ move — deliberate and shrewd. The Lions obviously didn’t guarantee a Super Bowl berth by adding Smith, but they did the next best thing. They took the shot they had to take, to enhance the big shot they’re aiming to take.

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