The Lions were able to finish the 2022 season with a winning record thanks to a road win over the Packers that saw them take the lead in the fourth quarter with a rushing touchdown and then preserve the previous season’s best quarterback from putting his team back on top. .
The start of the 2023 season doesn’t look very different. David Montgomery’s rushing touchdown with seven minutes to play put the Lions ahead 21-20 and they were unable to get 2022 MVP Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to get a first down on any of their last two possessions. The win gave the Lions their first 1-0 game since 2017, but head coach Dan Campbell said in his post-game press conference that it didn’t teach him anything new about the team he’s coming into this season with high expectations.
“I didn’t learn anything. I got confirmation of what I already knew,” Campbell said. “And this is a resilient team. It was a really resilient team, and we added pieces to that resilient team. We built to deal with a few things, and we did that today against a very good opponent.
Campbell may not have learned anything about his team, but a win like this on a stage like this likely justifies some of the offseason hype around the Lions for people outside the organization. More of the same in the coming weeks will leave no doubt that these are not the same old Lions.
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