DETROIT — A Lions victory isn’t complete until Dan Campbell speaks upon it. And in those two minutes of postgame video, with players in undershirts standing around him, you hear the essence of the team.

Evocative. Provocative. Edgy. Most definitely edgy.

We’ve seen variations of it through seven straight victories, tying the franchise’s longest winning streak and going 8-1 for the first time since 1954. Everything you need to know about the Lions is summed up and amplified.

“That is the definition of resiliency,” Campbell roared to his players after the Lions’ stunning 26-23 comeback victory in Houston. “You guys just kept banging away. We did whatever we had to do and we just f— bought our time.”

The Lions are buying time, not biding time. By logic if not by record, they’re the best team in the NFL, even if they haven’t yet surpassed the Chiefs (9-0). They’re so good, they’re good even on nights when they’re not very good. Did the Lions beat a first-place team on the road Sunday night despite Jared Goff throwing five interceptions? Of course they did.

Did rookie Jake Bates — a soccer player who never attempted a field goal in college — drill one from 58 yards and another from 52 on the final play, each practically grazing the upright? Of course he did. Did the Lions’ defense transform again from maligned to fully aligned in the space of one half? The Texans had 151 yards and 23 points in the first half, 97 and 0 in the second. Aaron Glenn keeps demanding — and getting — more and more out of his players.

The Lions are talented, obviously. But the secret under Campbell is how they simultaneously maintain their composure and their fierce edge. They trailed the Texans 23-7, and when Campbell told NBC reporter Melissa Stark at halftime they needed a couple of takeaways, naturally the first play of the second half was a Carlton Davis III interception of C.J. Stroud.

Goff’s ensuing interception could’ve ended the comeback before it began. But if Campbell has taught the Lions how to stand up, his quarterback has taught them how to get back up. Goff’s growth from unsteady newcomer to grizzled leader can be charted in his postgame addresses, each with a message punctuated by a well-timed expletive.

“If that ain’t a f— lesson, it ain’t over until it’s over, that’s what it is boys,” Goff shouted in the locker room Sunday night. “Way to fight all day. We’re f— different! We’re f— different than all 31 teams in this league!”

Anything can happen

We’ve spent so much time marveling at how different the Lions are — 28-8 since mid-2022 — we easily could lose track of how familiar they’re looking. They’re 8-2 in prime-time games during Campbell’s 3 1/2 years. They’ve won five straight road games, a franchise record, with the Honolulu blue wave of fans following them everywhere.

Woeful Jacksonville is next at Ford Field, and in the NFL, anything can happen. But the Lions, forever overlooked, aren’t likely to look past anyone. They still have road games against Indianapolis, Chicago and San Francisco, and division games against the Packers (6-3) Vikings (7-2) and Bears again, as well as a home game against the Bills (8-2). You’re allowed to say a 16-1 record is possible, but no sense saying it too loudly.

Just past the midway point of the season, nothing is a given.

“The most important thing is, it gets harder and harder to win now,” Campbell said Monday. “The more you win, the harder it is to continue to win. And it’s really because of the psyche — ‘oh man, that was great, we all feel good.’ But if we don’t clean up some of these errors, and we just kind of sweep them under the rug, that stuff will creep up and bite us. We identify it and stomp it out.”

They’re getting good at stomping. Bouts of sloppiness can happen, obviously, but I’d be shocked if the Lions suffered a bout of complacency. Starting with GM Brad Holmes, they’re always looking for an edge, even if it requires a risk.

Remember when they had a solid running back in Jamaal Williams, but hunted for a bigger edge? They signed David Montgomery and drafted Jahmyr Gibbs and now have the best tandem in the league.

Keeping Bates was a gamble, with incumbent kicker Michael Badgley 24 for 28 the past two seasons before getting injured in training camp. But Holmes wanted all avenues open to them. Campbell goes for it on fourth down a lot, but would he like the option of an occasional, oh, 58-yard field goal? Sure he would. Even as Bates struggled in the preseason and missed an extra point early, they stuck with his strong leg for moments like that, and he hasn’t missed a field goal in the regular season.

The hunt for an edge includes the exhausting search for an edge rusher. Losing star Aidan Hutchinson in week five was a crusher. But the Lions keep churning bodies, hoping to find a fit, and they did sack Stroud four times, one each by Josh Paschal, Alim McNeill, Pat O’Connor and James Houston. McNeill has expanded his game beyond a run-stuffer and become a legitimate star.

'I can't wait'

After Hutchinson went down, the Lions bought time until Holmes could wait no longer. He added veteran Za’Darius Smith at the trade deadline, and then Campbell made the type of move that endears players to the Lions. He told Smith to sit out the Texans game because it was supposed to be his bye week with the Browns, and at 32, he could use the break.

Smith sat, technically. But he never really sat the entire game, patrolling the sidelines in sweats, coaching and cajoling the defensive linemen between series. Afterward, Smith even joined the NBC broadcast set to share his excitement.

“I can’t wait,” Smith told Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison. “I hate that (Campbell) gave me this week off. Honestly, I didn’t want it. That’s something they wanted for their players. And that’s what I love about this football team, because they care about their players.”

Visually and verbally, Smith reminds of another midseason acquisition by another championship team in Detroit. Rasheed Wallace came to the Pistons in 2004 with gifts of talent and playful gab, and underlined that team’s edge.

Wallace talked of craving a championship — getting the ‘ship, he said. To get the ‘ship, it takes a chip, and the Lions have plenty of guys who play that way. Safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph are ball-hawking, heat-seeking missiles, with 10 interceptions combined. Amon-Ra St. Brown collects 202 chips after every practice, the amount of balls he catches from the JUGS machine. Jameson Williams seems capable of turning personal mistakes into chips, and had three tough catches against the Texans.

Chips lead to ‘ships, and the Lions are sticking to the path and the plan. They play like they’ve been there before, and they have. Every place but one.

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