The Lions have won their first division title in 30 years, but the team still has goals available to accomplish in the regular season — like securing the conference’s No. 2 seed.
Head coach Dan Campbell noted that during his Tuesday press conference, as Detroit gets ready to play Dallas on Saturday. Quarterback Jared Goff agreed, saying that while it was good to celebrate clinching the division over Christmas, that’s behind the club now.
“It’s been fun. It’s been cool,” Goff said. “You try to soak it in, you try to enjoy it. The old 24-hour rule, win or lose, and try to treat it that way, and yeah, it’s been exciting. I think the city’s excited. We’re excited. I know the fans are thrilled we get a home playoff game at the very least, but with that being said, like I said earlier, we’ve got so much more in front of us that we want to accomplish and we’re very, very happy with winning the division, but by no means satisfied or content. Have got a lot to do still and it’ll be fun.”
Heading into the postseason, the Lions are looking to avoid another lull like they experienced around Thanksgiving when they lost two out of three. But Goff noted that he didn’t think the problem at that point was complacency.
“I think [complacency is] what you get fearful of when you do win a division. And certainly, in our situation, [because we’ve] won one for the first time in a long time and think the job’s done, and by no means is it,” Goff said. “We’ve got a ton more goals ahead of us and everything is in our control, and we can go out there and do whatever we want to this year, just have to go execute.”
The Cowboys will provide a great late-season test for the Lions, with Goff noting that Detroit can stack up and see where the team is in comparison.
“[W]hat we can control is winning this week and again, obviously a big one,” Goff said. “They’re a great team. They’re fighting for their division as well, so it’ll be a tough one. But yeah, we’d like to win this one and continue our chance at a higher seed.”
