The Lions’ Culture Will Keep Their Championship Window Open
Credit: Junfu Han via Imagn Images
The Detroit Lions felt like a team of destiny heading into the playoffs. Labeled as the favorites to win the NFC from the opening week, Detroit was getting stronger as the season ended, welcoming Alex Anzalone back to the lineup in a Week 18 win over the Minnesota Vikings and David Montgomery to the backfield on Saturday night.
This team’s hunger was unmatched, fueled by the knowledge that years like this don’t come often, and their opportunity to march to the Super Bowl in New Orleans without having to leave Detroit beforehand might be once-in-a-lifetime.
But on Saturday night, reality hit. The Lions turned it over five times, Jared Goff threw three interceptions and the Washington Commanders hung 45 points on a battered defense to knock Detroit out of the playoffs. What had felt like a dream season where things went right, even when they went wrong, suddenly ended. And when their eyes opened, the team was standing buck naked on the 50-yard line at Ford Field.
Was this it? Had the Lions championship window closed? Dan Campbell didn’t believe that was the case.
“Yeah I do,” Campbell replied when he asked if the Lions’ championship window was still open during Monday’s press conference. “We talk about that core. That core group is still intact – and we’ve signed some back, some are up on contracts and that’ll be ongoing. But, yeah, we absolutely do.”
One year ago, Campbell lamented that his team’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game may have been their only shot at a title. Campbell didn’t believe that was the case, but it’s a typical fear in the NFL where rosters are always changing and teams are adapting to find new ways to take down the giant at the top of the mountain.
But for the Lions, that wasn’t the case. Detroit lost some integral pieces coming into the season, including guard Jonah Jackson and safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, but they weren’t enough to derail the core of their team.
The Lions had their franchise quarterback in place as Goff signed a four-year, $212 million extension. Several other key pieces fell in line as Amon-Ra St. Brown signed a four-year, $120 million extension and Penei Sewell signed a four-year, $112 million extension.
This was in addition to several of the cheaper talent that’s on the roster. Jahmyr Gibbs, Jameson Williams, and Aidan Hutchinson are still on rookie-scale contracts. Frank Ragnow and Taylor Decker are also under contract through 2026 and 2027 respectively.
Other pieces to the roster play a role, but the biggest key has been keeping the core in place. The Lions have done this by identifying their most important players and signing them to long-term contracts, but they’ve also kept their flexibility by signing the role players to short-term deals to maximize their cap space.
This is important in the long-term when Goff’s contract has a whopping $69.6 million cap hit in 2026. But it also builds a culture that helped the Lions carry over from their NFC Championship Game appearance in 2023.
“I think the most important thing is you want to know you’ve got your culture, you’ve got your identity and you’ve got players that fit into that, and we’ve got that,” Campbell said. “And we’ve got players in every pivotal position you can ask for to have success and those guys are made the right way, so, absolutely, our window is open.”
Players are part of the process of building a culture, but it also falls onto the coaching staff. Many laughed when Campbell vowed to eat the kneecaps off opponents and has become a sound byte machine since arriving in Detroit. But four years into his tenure with the Lions, you can’t downplay the type of culture he’s built.
Part of this was hiring the right assistant coaches. Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn had their ups and downs during their time with the Lions, but they stayed the course even as Detroit went 4-19-1 over Campbell’s first 24 games as a head coach. Where most teams would have shuffled the deck, the Lions forged ahead and it helped them win eight of their final 10 games to set up what they’ve done over the past two seasons.
People on the outside of this would look at the pending departures of Johnson and Glenn and believe it leads to their downfall. But Campbell also believes he’s built his culture to the point where he can rely on some of the people already in the building to pick up where they left off.
It’s why an Adam Schefter post on X listed three Lions assistant head coach and running backs coach Scottie Montgomery, passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand and linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard as potential replacements if Johnson and Glenn leave. While they may not get the job, it’s a sign of how the culture is a key part of keeping their success going.
“Does it hurt to lose those guys? Absolutely. They’re part of what we’ve been here,” Campbell said. “They’ve been here for four years and they’re one of the major reasons why we’ve been able to get to where we’ve been….but yet we move forward. This train rolls on and I’ll find the next best guys for us.”
It’s part of the natural cycle of the NFL. Teams mention that the end of the season is a tough time because it’s the last time that group will be together. But while the complementary pieces may head for another team or opportunity, it’s the core that helps keep everything together and the window open.
General manager Brad Holmes will have to find out how to replace those pieces from a roster standpoint, while Campbell will have to replace whoever he loses on his coaching staff. But that shouldn’t be the end for a team that has a lot of pieces returning. Their culture keeps the championship window open, even though the sting of Saturday’s loss is still fresh in the air.
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