Lions end long drought, win 1st division title since ’93،
MINNEAPOLIS — Jared Goff wasn't even born the last time the Detroit Lions won a division title.
However, on Sunday the veteran quarterback – born in 1994 – was at the forefront of the Lions celebrating their Premier League championship since 1993.
With the 30-24 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, Detroit clinched its first division title in three decades, ending the NFL's second-longest active drought without a division title after the Cleveland Browns (1989).
Goff passed for 257 yards and a touchdown and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for 80 yards and two touchdowns, but it was Ifeatu Melifonwu's game-clinching interception of a Nick Mullens pass at the team's 5-yard line. Lions with 58 seconds left with the Vikings driving. for the potential go-ahead score that sealed the victory. The interception was Mullens' fourth of the game.
Entering the game, Goff said the current Lions team had not “carried the weight of the last 30 years here” with the division-winning drought. However, their head coach Dan Campbell, also a former Lions player, made it a priority for the guys to understand the special opportunity they had in front of them to achieve this season goal.
“It certainly is, and I think that's what a lot of it is about, but we're a young team and most of these guys weren't even born the last time they won a division,” Campbell said during Friday’s practice. “So, it's not, but I think they also understand how special it will be. You tell me we can win a division for the first time in 30 years for an organization, that's special .I don't care how you “Cut it.” So whatever perspective you take, it's always special. So, I think that's the message and they understand it. Look, we want this. “
Wayne Fontes was head coach of the Lions in 1993 when they finished with a 10-6 record and clinched the NFC Central Division in the final week of the regular season with a victory over the Green Bay Packers. He can barely remember his feelings at the time, so much time has passed, but the 83-year-old is a big Campbell fan.
“Congratulations. Dan Campbell did a great job. He's an outstanding coach,” Fontes told ESPN. The football team is well coached. Their assistant coaches do a great job and Dan Campbell is probably one of the best coaches to have been around in a long, long time in Detroit. I continue to support them and I think they will continue to win because once again, they have a good coach, a good staff and good players.”
“Thirty years is a long time,” Fontes added with a laugh. “Dan Campbell deserves a good atta boy or a good ride or whatever because he did a great job. I really believe that.”
