Dan Campbell: Lions ‘built to win’ under any circumstances

Green Bay, Wisconsin. Despite the cold, windy and damp circumstances inside Lambeau Field on Sunday, the Detroit Lions won their first outdoor game of the season.

The Lions’ 24-14 victory over the Green Bay Packers gave them three straight road wins over their NFC North rivals, the first such sequence since Detroit won four in a row at Lambeau Field between 1986 and 1991.

According to Elias, the Lions were the only team to play their first seven games of the season inside, aside from the 1998 New Orleans Saints in NFL history. However, the difference in environment in their eighth game on Sunday proved insignificant.

According to head coach Dan Campbell, the Lions are “built to win” in every situation.

“I know this, I’m not shocked one bit that we came out here and played pretty good football out in the elements,” Campbell said. “We’re built for this. And it doesn’t matter and just because we play indoors, it doesn’t matter. We can play anywhere. We can play in the snow. We can play in the rain, play in the mud, that’s just us. We’re built to win.”

Detroit has two more outdoor games remaining in the regular season. at Week 16, the Lions will play the Bears at Chicago, followed by the 49ers in Week 17. The club believes it can compete with any team in the league at this time.

“We’re supposed to be the dome team who can’t play outside. We’re supposed to be the team that can only win one way, and I think we’ve shown a handful of times that we can win in multiple ways,” said Lions QB Jared Goff, who went 18-for-22 with 145 passing yards and a touchdown. “We’re chameleons, and whatever takes to win in whatever way, that’s what we’re going to do.”

The Lions were dominant on both sides of the ball, with the defence allowing its only touchdown in the final 3:49, a 2-yard run by Emanuel Wilson, and safety Kerby Joseph recording his first pick-six of his NFL career with 32 seconds left before halftime, putting the Lions up 17-3. Although the Packers outgained Detroit’s offence 411-261, the Lions maintained control of the game with zero turnovers and a powerful running attack.

David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs combined for 138 rushing yards and a touchdown to lead Detroit to its first 7-1 record since 1956.

“We know we’re killers, man. Killers, kill. That’s what we do,” Lions cornerback Amik Robertson said. “We’ve got to keep on stacking them, though.”

Despite their ability to win in unusual situations, such as the inclement weather this week, Campbell is still pressing the squad to work on other areas where they can improve before travelling to Houston for next week’s “Sunday Night Football” matchup.

“There were a number of things we talked about: run game supremacy, we talked about explosives, as crazy as that sounds in that type of weather, but whoever could come up with the most explosives, field position and turnover ratio,” Campbell said. “The fact that we took care of the football. We preached it all week. We worked it. Wet ball drills every day at practice outdoors.

“Our guys really did a great job. Goff took great care of the football, and it was the difference. It was a big difference.”

Lions All-Pro receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who arrived at the stadium wearing a black sweatshirt that read “Green Bay Sucks,” caught seven passes for 56 yards and a score, becoming the first wide receiver in at least 19 seasons to catch 30 consecutive targets. He has connected on 30 consecutive throws with Goff, who became the first quarterback in NFL history to complete 80% of passes across six games (minimum of 100 attempts), according to ESPN Research.

Goff said this is “probably” the best stretch of his career as this victory seemingly put the Lions in the driver’s seat in the NFC, but they’re nowhere near satisfied.

“Each game is its own battle and its own journey, and I think we’ve gotten really good at flushing it away. Even if it’s a loss,” Goff said. “Flushing it away quickly and turning over to the next game.