Dan Campbell’s vision has taken root in the Motor City.
When the former NFL tight end arrived as the Detroit Lions’ head coach in 2021, he promised his team would be physical, hard-working and a source of pride for a long-suffering fan base.
After a rough 3-13-1 start in his debut season, Campbell delivered a winning record in Year 2 and guided the franchise to the NFC Championship Game for the first time in three decades last season.
Sunday, the Lions (9-1) come to Lucas Oil Stadium tied for the best record in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs and among the favorites to win the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.
It’s an impressive resume backed up by on-field performances that have included three wins by 38 or more points and four games scoring 40 points or more.
Detroit has been dominant and has taken on the no-quarters-given personality of its energetic head coach.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson acknowledges the Lions’ impressive run. But he insists the Colts (5-6) are not intimidated by a looming battle with one of the NFL’s top sides.
“Every week you're playing a great team, but we all know this is a pretty good team that we're getting ready to go up against,” Richardson said. “But I feel like we're a great team as well. So we’ve just got to prepare like that and just get ready to go out there and compete.”
Shane Steichen just missed the postseason in his first year as Indianapolis’ head coach. The Colts shrugged off a 3-5 start that included a three-game losing streak to win six of their next eight games and put themselves in position for a playoff berth with a win against the Houston Texans in the regular-season finale.
The bid came up 15 yards shy when a fourth-and-1 pass fell short as Indianapolis was driving for a go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter.
There was hope a healthy Richardson paired with a healthy and happy running back Jonathan Taylor would help the Colts take the next step this season. But the journey has taken some unexpected turns.
Returning from a two-game benching last week against the New York Jets, Richardson led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives in a comeback victory to end a three-game losing streak.
Now the 22-year-old quarterback is being asked to lead Indianapolis back to the postseason for the first time since 2020.
The schedule becomes more forgiving after Sunday’s showdown against Detroit, but the Colts likely can’t afford to finish worse than 4-2 over the final six games if they hope to secure a playoff bid.
“It's definitely important to stack wins,” Richardson said. “But it's not anything to show to anybody. It’s really more so just to prove it to ourselves and just show that we can win and just keep on winning. So that's our goal, just get better each and every week and just stack the ‘W’s up when we can.”
Adding the Lions to the stack obviously won’t be easy.
Like all championship contenders, Detroit can win in a variety of ways.
The Lions complement the league’s highest-scoring offense (33.6 points per game) with the fifth-ranked scoring defense (17.7 points per game). They’re sixth in the NFL in passing offense and third in the ground game.
They’re eighth in turnovers with 10 on the season and fourth in takeaways with 19. And even the one weakness on their stat sheet is qualified.
Detroit is 27th in passing defense by total yards allowed, but it’s a solid 10th in yards per pass attempt at 5.9.
The Lions’ lone loss came all the way back in Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers— a game in which they outgained their opponents 463-216. Detroit had two turnovers in that contest, one of just two games this season with multiple giveaways.
The other came Nov. 10 in Houston when quarterback Jared Goff threw five interceptions and still led a 26-23 victory that erased a 16-point halftime deficit.
Indianapolis hopes a home crowd and some momentum off last week’s comeback can aid its attempt to end Detroit’s eight-game winning streak.
The Colts also know, despite appearances, the Lions are not invincible.
“I mean, everybody has a weakness,” Indianapolis linebacker Zaire Franklin said. “It’s just— when you play in this game in the league for so long, it's just about being able to take advantage of the opportunities that you get. I think they do a great job of complementing themselves. I think they do a good job of self-scout and trying to not give away as many tendencies, but nobody's perfect.”
