DETROIT — There is an experience often shared among those who played for the Detroit Lions. A rite of passage, truly. You’ve been told you won’t win anything. Which this franchise is notorious for losing. Players know this all too well and have heard it too often.
“’Oh, you guys are no good. You guys won’t do anything.’ Everybody on this team, I’m sure someone told them that,” wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said Sunday night. ‘You’re on the Lions. You guys aren’t going to do anything.'”
Leave it to St. Brown – the man with more income than your accountant during tax season – to put it mildly. This was his experience. Three years ago, he joined a stripped-down roster ready to take on another rebuild. The general perception? Why should this be any different? These are the Lions, after all. They weren’t going to win anyone over in an introductory press conference. To retool how people see this city’s football team, it fell to St. Brown and so many others acquired over the years to win when it matters most: in January.
“We know what the perception is of being on the Detroit Lions,” St. Brown said Sunday, three years into this thing, following the Lions’ 31-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to advance to the NFC Championship Game . “But we believe we have the ability to change things, not just for this year, but for years to come.”

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Three years ago. That’s when this thing started. That’s when Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes were hired. It was when players like St. Brown, Jared Goff, Penei Sewell and so many others landed in Detroit, they said they would never win anything of substance as long as they wore the jersey of a franchise known for losing.
Many players have had to experience the same defeat their predecessors experienced, the same defeat they were told they would be good for. But for this team to get to where it is now it was a necessary step. To change the perception of others, Lions needed to know if their perception of themselves was real.
“When you’re 0-10-1, you figure people out,” Campbell said last week. “You find out about players and coaches, people in the organization. And so, that’s why you have the best sense of what those people are and what they’re made of, what drives them, and what they’re willing to do for those around them. “This is a much better perspective and look at people than when everything is going great and you have 12 wins.”
That’s where the Lions’ confidence in what they’re doing comes from: that first season together. Left tackle Taylor Decker he referenced a scene from HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which aired before the 2022 season. The Lions were coming off a 3-13-1 season. One morning during training camp, the team was at full strength, with the coaches ramping up the intensity to prepare them for the season ahead. They were going hard because they were being tested.
Perhaps noticing the rolled eyes and mumbled comments about the intensity level, Campbell gave his players a speech.
Like everything else along the way, they remember it.
“He said, ‘Guys, trust me, I’m doing everything I can to put you in the best position possible,’” Decker recalled after Sunday’s game. “‘I’m not crazy, trust me and follow the plan.’ That’s what we did and we believe in each other.”We believe in our coaches and that’s turned into something really cool.”
This trust, between player and coach, is why the Lions are here. These votes of confidence add up over time, manifesting themselves in ways that fans of this team once could only dream of but now see in real time. We saw it in Week 1, when the Lions went to Kansas City and defeated the Chiefs on banner night. We saw it in the wild card round, when Goff beat his former team and the quarterback he was traded for, in Detroit’s first playoff victory in 32 years. The Lions firmly believe they can match any team in the league and win on any given Sunday. This is the team they should have been.

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It all led to Sunday. The Buccaneers were in town and the winner would play for a trip to the Super Bowl. What you saw on Sunday was what the Lions expected. Stars like Goff (30 of 43 for 287 yards and two touchdowns), St. Brown (eight receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown), Aidan Hutchinson (one sack and three QBs) and others made the most of their potential in one game of playoffs. Detroit’s rookie class, criticized at draft time, continues to thrive. This was the vision initially outlined, as the powers that be were going to build this thing.
“I figured we would have a chance to compete with the big boys, and that’s where we are,” Campbell said.
It’s not just the stars, though. Take a look at this list, look at Sunday’s score, and you’ll find unheralded players the Lions have identified as their guys, added to a roster built to win. Brock Wright, an undrafted free agent three years ago, has a thankless job as the No. 1 tight end. 2 in Detroit. He doesn’t get media attention often: that goes to rookie Sam LaPorta. As a result, his contributions don’t always earn headlines. But in this game, when the Lions needed a big play, he caught a pass and weaved his way through the Tampa Bay defense for a gain of 29, in a closely contested 10-10 game.
Running back Craig Reynolds, a product of Kutztown University, also arrived in 2021. He is RB3 behind two stars. His opportunities to contribute on offense are few and far between, but this staff has a knack for scoring points. The last time these teams played, in Week 6, Reynolds saw action, with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery dealing with injuries. He provided perhaps the block of the year, leading the way for St. Brown to score in a 20-6 win over the Bucs.
On Sunday, the Lions got it back to Reynolds — his first rushing attempt since Halloween — with a fourth-down run that ended in the end zone. Touchdown, Lions.
4th and Goal? The Lions are trying.
📺: #TBvsDET on NBC
📱: Continue streaming #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/x9nVpCrGhP—NFL (@NFL) January 21, 2024
And finally, as the Lions tried to close out the game with one last stop, it came down to their defense. A group that had been questioned, doubted and criticized throughout the season needed to play. He got it from Derrick Barnes, a fourth-round linebacker who took three years to emerge as a starter on this defense. It was his first career interception and helped the Lions punch their ticket to the NFC Championship Game.
DEFENSE THE DEN @derrickbarnes21 | #AllGrit pic.twitter.com/hGhOJ3lFXn
—Detroit Lions (@Lions) January 21, 2024
“Everybody had a vision, and we did too,” Barnes said in the locker room. “That’s why you work hard every week, every day. Because we know the potential we have and we don’t accept anything less.”
“We’re going to the NFC championship game with that group of guys,” Campbell said. “And they love football, they play football and that’s what they respect, and they respect their teammates and nothing else. And when you can care more about the person next to you than… about yourself, you can do some really special things, and that’s where we’re at with this group.
This is how these Lions are understood. They are unlike any other Lions team that has come before them and they are proving it when it matters most. They continue to win because of what they’ve been through together. They continue to advance, have proof of concept, and are now trying to prove to others that they are real. They will head to San Francisco for an opportunity to play for this franchise’s first Super Bowl.

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After the game, when the melee around St. Brown dispersed following his comments about changing perceptions, I stood there and asked him if he feels like that perception is changing, based on what the Lions are doing. His response was telling, providing a glimpse into the mind of a player chosen to play This Detroit Lions.
“Pretty much,” he said. “Not really. I mean, we’ll see. Next week we’ll have game picks. They’ll probably make San Francisco win. I feel like you’ve got to keep winning. If we win next week, we’ll be lucky enough to go to the Super Bowl. I think winning cures everything. “I think that’s the most important thing.”
Look what has already been done for this franchise.

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(Photo by Amon-Ra St. Brown: Nic Antaya/Getty Images)