DETROIT — It looked like a monumental gamble, one of the riskiest of the Gambling Man’s career. But as we’ve learned with Dan Campbell, the only bad gamble is the one you don’t take. And when you implicitly trust your team and your quarterback, you can try just about anything.

The Lions keep challenging odds and defying convention, and winning games by any means necessary. This time, they needed their high-powered offense to compensate for their banged-up defense, and that meant no risk was too risky.

Not even going for it on fourth down from Green Bay’s 21 with 43 seconds left in a tie game, instead of kicking the easy field goal. Not even going for it on fourth down four other times, twice scoring touchdowns. The last gambit on fourth-and-1 was the gasping one, as Jared Goff strained and fell while handing off to David Montgomery, who powered through a hole for a 7-yard gain.

A few seconds later, Jake Bates booted a 35-yard field goal as time expired and the Lions extinguished Green Bay again, 34-31, in a Thursday night classic at Ford Field. It was withering drama between increasingly bitter rivals, and by going for all of it, the Lions took all of it. They swept the season series, won a franchise record 11th consecutive game, and at 12-1, officially clinched a playoff spot.

They still have a one-game lead over the Vikings in the NFC North, and now get 10 days to prepare for 10-2 Buffalo. The Lions were missing about a dozen injured players on defense, and then lost their star in the middle, Alim McNeill, to concussion protocol in the first quarter. Players who were signed five days ago jumped in, as defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn pieced together a blitzing plan of attack, risk be damned.

It was Campbell’s mantra all week, and as the Lions approached the nationally televised showcase, it seemed all of NFL America was wondering whether the Lions could hold up against the hot Packers (9-4). One thing was certain — they weren’t going to just wait around for everyone to get healthy. They were going to put more on the offense, load up Ben Johnson’s playbook, and yes, go for it on any reasonable fourth down. (And even unreasonable ones).

“We knew our offense was going to need to carry the load, carry a little bit more of the backpacks and such,” Campbell said. “I love the fact that we just find a way, and the narrative going in, we weren’t buying any of this stuff. No excuses. We don’t need to talk about being tough, we don’t need to talk about being resilient; we live it, and it’s what we are. We just proved it again.”

The Lions were 4 for 5 on fourth-down attempts, which extended possessions, kept their defense off the field and created sizable edges in time of possession (36 to 24 minutes), total yards (391-298) and total plays (76-45).

This wasn’t even necessarily about analytics and what the odds said. This was a strategy to keep the ball away from dangerous quarterback Jordan Love and powerful runner Josh Jacobs. By converting that last fourth down, they were able to win on the final play, and not give the ball back to the Packers with about 40 seconds left.

“You’d love to say you’re going to convert every one of them, but that’s not the reality,” Campbell said. “So you know you’re taking a high level of risk. But I felt with our guys, it wouldn’t be as big of a risk as it may appear to be.”

That stems from his faith in his quarterback and the league’s top-scoring offense. Goff was 32 of 41 for 283 yards and set an obscure NFL record by completing at least five passes to six different players.

Receiver Tim Patrick, a former practice-squad guy, caught two touchdown passes, including a 3-yarder on fourth down. Jahmyr Gibbs caught a 2-yard touchdown pass on fourth down. Only one fourth-down attempt failed, and it was a crusher. On fourth-and-1 from the Lions’ 30 late in the third quarter, Gibbs was dropped for no gain. The Packers quickly scored on one of Jacobs’ three touchdown runs, an 8-yarder that gave them the lead, 28-24.

These Lions simply don’t blink. If you play poker with Campbell, you have no idea when he’s bluffing. In blackjack, I assume he occasionally hits on 17. In roulette, I don’t know if he bets on red or black, but he always bets on Goff.

“I think he’s done a really good job of deciding when to go and when not to go,” Goff said. “Certainly, because it worked, everyone is going to say, ‘Great call,’ and if it didn’t work, you guys would be crushing him. That’s the game he plays and that’s why he’s the guy with the big stones and we trust him.”

The stones were boulders on this night. Goff had thrown an interception early in the third quarter that set up a short touchdown drive for Green Bay’s first lead, 21-17. But Campbell’s faith never wavers, imbuing players with confidence, even a swagger.

“He kind of challenged the offense really early in the week, challenged myself, ‘Hey, it’s your turn to hold your weight and carry the load,’ ” Goff said. “For me, that’s like the greatest feeling ever. You’re like, ‘Let’s effing go and let’s make this thing happen.’ ”

For the record, I think most of Campbell’s gambles are smart, sometimes even the ones that don’t work. A failed one still can serve a purpose, serving notice the Lions are one of the edgiest, most-aggressive teams in the league, a reputation that grows.

They’ve beaten the Packers in six of the past seven meetings and there’s some juicy rivalry stuff brewing here. Packers coach Matt LaFleur was flustered even before the game, getting into an animated verbal spat with a guy on the field who was helping hold the giant flag.

“He was talking junk to our players, giving them the throat-slash sign,” LaFleur said. “I’ve never seen that, I’ve been on many fields, and usually they police that much better.”

It probably didn’t help that the flag guy wore a Brian Branch jersey, and Branch was ejected from the first meeting between these teams, won by the Lions 24-14 in Green Bay. When he left the field at Lambeau, Branch fired the double-bird salute, which has been memorialized on T-shirts.

Fellow safety Kerby Joseph had one of the shirts during pregame introductions, and the sniping apparently continued. Teams have accused Joseph of being a dirty player, and Packers tight end Tucker Kraft recently said, “If I get a chance to get my hands on him, you know, playing football …” without elaborating.

Lions defensive players heard it all, or at least said they heard it. It doesn’t take much to stoke the motivation of this rambunctious group.

“(The Packers) were saying craziness like Jordan Love was about to pass for 430 yards,” cornerback Carlton Davis III said. “That was disrespectful. … I think he had like 200 yards (206 actually).”

In a high-tension, high-risk, high-energy scrap, the Packers had a chance to make it a race in the division, but in the end, the Lions simply wouldn’t let them have the ball. Campbell’s gambles are most notable on fourth downs, but evident too on that patchwork defense, which took plenty of risks.

Some thought Love would be able to pick apart the defense, which doesn’t have many healthy bodies to generate a consistent pass rush. They generated enough, which surely added to the Packers’ frustration.

“I feel like they didn’t expect us to win,” Joseph said. “But with us, you gotta expect the unexpected.”

With the Lions, the unexpected officially is the expected. And they keep proving it, down after down after down, all four downs if necessary.

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