Bob Wojnowski: Lions are dinged but not down, and far from done

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — They hear you. They feel your pain, as you feel their pain. They don’t totally understand the sudden reversal, but they get it.

A week ago, the Lions were 12-1 and Super Bowl favorites, with a clear path to the division title and the No. 1 seed. Today, based on the outside discourse — locally and nationally — they’re the dyin’ Lions, 12-2 with an injury list that needs to be checked twice.

Oh, they’re certainly damaged after adding three more prominent starters — Alim McNeill, Carlton Davis III, David Montgomery — to the NFL’s longest infirmary report after the 48-42 loss to the Bills. Damaged, but definitely not dead. All week, they’ve eagerly and defiantly declared themselves very much alive, and for valid reasons.

Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has lost the most — down six starters from the season-opening lineup — and in a way, has the most to gain. The Lions’ defense has steadily risen even as the players dropped, starting with Aidan Hutchinson’s broken leg in Week 5, so it’s not like this is a completely foreign challenge.

“We’re going to the playoffs, we’re in the tournament, why in the hell is the sky falling for us?” Glenn said Thursday. “Why do we have to sit back and be sad? We lost two games and we have a chance to win out and accomplish everything we want to accomplish. So why should we sit back and wallow and think that the sky is falling? It’s dumb.”

Well, it’s the NFL, which is built on parity, which always stokes fervent reaction by fans and media. Most teams aren’t as good or as bad as they appear at any given moment. Same with players. For instance, six weeks ago against the Texans, Jared Goff threw five interceptions and won. Last week, he threw five touchdown passes and lost.

Goals remain within reach

I’m not here to minimize the distress, and neither is Dan Campbell or the players. The Lions have 22 on IR, most in the league by far (the Eagles have seven and the Vikings have five). But a majority of the Lions’ impact players are healthy, especially on offense, including the quarterback. It makes no sense to belabor it, and even less sense to dismiss the chances of a 12-2 team that holds the tiebreaker over other contenders.

It’ll be more difficult, sure — it never was going to be easy anyhow — but the Lions still can accomplish everything they planned. They’ll likely be favored in their final three games — at Chicago (4-10) Sunday, at San Francisco, home to Minnesota — and if they win out, they land the top seed in the NFC, a playoff bye, and then potentially two more home games to reach the Super Bowl.

If that looks insurmountable, people must have forgotten what the Lions offense looks like, still leading the league with a 32.8 scoring average. Amon-Ra St. Brown just piled up a career-high 193 receiving yards against the Bills, despite leaving his guts in the bathroom, literally. Jameson Williams averages 17.8 yards per catch. Jahmyr Gibbs is one of the most explosive backs in the league, with 1,047 yards rushing, 395 receiving and a 5.6 yards-per-carry average (trailing only Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry).

Montgomery is a huge loss, but he maintains hope of a return for the playoffs. The Lions have capable backups in Craig Reynolds, Jermar Jefferson and rookie Sione Vaki, who all have fresh legs. Ben Johnson is the NFL’s most coveted offensive coordinator, and he has a very good line. He was disappointed in the Lions’ season-low 48 yards rushing against the Bills, which led to Goff throwing 59 passes, but still loves what he has.

“It stinks that Monty is going to be out, but I really do believe that Gibby is ready for this,” Johnson said. “Like Coach (Campbell) has been saying all week long, no one’s going to write our story for us. We’ve got a great opportunity to win this game and then we already know we’re going to be a part of the dance. And all bets are off once we get in there.”

Actually, all bets are still on. Looking at the odds, the Lions’ loss to the Bills didn’t change much. In many books, Buffalo (11-3) and Detroit flipped the top spots, with the Lions No. 2. Then it’s the Eagles (12-2), Chiefs (13-1) Ravens (9-5) and Vikings (12-2). The Lions’ diminished chances have as much to do with other teams’ hot streaks as their own injuries.

The Eagles have won 10 straight but have a tough road contest against Washington this week. The Vikings have won seven in a row but play at Seattle. The Packers (10-4) have won eight of 10, with both losses to the Lions.

Few coaches set a tone as adeptly and eloquently as Campbell, who laid it out to the team, then hammered it home to fans on his weekly appearance on 97.1 The Ticket.

“What happens is, you get used to eating filet, life’s good, but you forgot what it was like when you had nothing and ate your f------ moldy bread and it was just fine,” Campbell said on the radio. “So we got a bad taste in our mouth, we got kicked around the other day, we lost a few guys. You know what? It’s exactly what we needed.”

To clarify, he’s not suggesting they needed the injuries, just the reminder of how tough it can get. Also, moldy bread is never fine.

Writing their own story

McNeill was the hulking plug in the middle, their most important defender outside of Hutchinson. Davis was their top cover cornerback, but the secondary is far from barren. Both premier safeties, Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph, are playing. GM Brad Holmes added depth in the offseason with Amik Robertson and Terrion Arnold, and long-sidelined Emmanuel Moseley is back.

The linebacking corps is where the real decimation occurred. Jack Campbell is the last guy standing, with virtually every other first- or second-stringer out — Alex Anzalone, Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez, Jalen Reeves-Maybin.

Campbell knows the prevailing narrative and doesn’t buy it. He rattled off the names of all his healthy defensive players to make his point.

“You’re not going to hear me say anything about what we have or don’t have,” Campbell said. “We have plenty here in the whole roster, we have plenty on defense. … This is how we’re viewed right now, and look, nobody writes our story. We’re the only ones who write our own story, so we have the pen and there’s a lot of football left, and I think we’re looking forward to this, to be honest with you.”

Indeed, the pen can be mightier than the sores. (Sorry). So can urgency, and that’s what bothered Campbell as much as anything. The Lions started slow, dug a 14-0 hole and couldn’t recover against Josh Allen and the Bills.

Players talk about showing more desperation from the start in the Soldier Field cold (expected temperature 33 degrees) against a team that often gives them trouble. They vow to play with their proverbial “hair on fire,” which is great as long as they avoid a rash of scalp burns.

With the Lions, the vow to rebound usually isn’t an empty promise. They haven’t lost two games in a row since October, 2022.

“It’s just our mentality, not overreacting,” Goff said. “If we reacted like everyone outside of us, we’d have no chance — ‘we’re done.’ That’s what everyone’s saying, but no, we’re in great shape. We’re 12-2 and everything’s in front of us.”

The degree of difficulty has changed but the story hasn’t. It’ll just take maximum effort and a bit more luck to write the preferred ending.