When the Detroit Lions walked off the field at Levi’s Stadium after the NFC Championship game last year, they were dejected but motivated. In the locker room, Dan Campbell stood in front of everyone and talked about how that might have been their only shot and how much harder it’s going to be to get back.
The big thought there is that the Lions aren’t surprised anymore. They aren’t a secret good team. Everyone knows they’re good and they’re now the team that is hunted as opposed to the one that’s doing the hunting.
The Lions knew that was going to be the case in 2024, they just didn’t know they would find that out so early into the year. The Lions went to New Jersey to have joint practices with the New York Giants during training camp and it very quickly turned into a daily Royal Rumble. It was so much that both teams got fined.