The Detroit Lions are NFC North champions, as they dominated the Minnesota Vikings, 31-9, to win the division title in back-to-back seasons. 

Not only are they crowned division champions, but the Lions will also be the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Meanwhile, the Vikings are the No. 5 seed as the best of the three wild card squads in the NFC. Instead of the bye week, they will be heading to Los Angeles to face the Rams next weekend. 

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This had "Game of the Year" written all over it, as two of the best offenses in the league were matched up to determine who gets the top seed and the division title all in 60 minutes of play. 

But a shootout wasn't seen at Ford Field on Sunday night, and a lot of that had to do with the tremendous pressure Aaron Glenn's Lions defense put on Sam Darnold and the Vikings' offense. 

On the other hand, the Lions used the man who leads the NFL in touchdowns this season, Jahmyr Gibbs, who added four more to his total in this pivotal game. 

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Gibbs, who is getting more play with the loss of his counterpart David Montgomery in the backfield, capped a nine-play drive for the Lions with a 25-yard burst into the end zone to put the Lions up 7-0 in the first quarter. 

It was surprisingly the only touchdown scored in the first half, but Gibbs got the lead padded for Detroit in the second half when head coach Dan Campbell went for it on fourth-and-2 from Minnesota’s 10-yard line, and Jared Goff tossed a ball to his wide-open back for a 10-yard score. 

Then, after the Vikings missed a deep field goal attempt, Gibbs found another crease, this time going for 13 yards to blow the doors off the game early in the fourth quarter, 24-9. 

Now, this game could’ve been much closer had Darnold, who has been one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks all season long, capitalized on his opportunities in the red zone. 

Early in the second quarter, Darnold had the Vikings first-and-goal on Detroit’s 5-yard line, but was unable to get into the end zone after a couple errant throws to Justin Jefferson, while also failing to see a wide open Jordan Addison in the flat as well. 

Then, after the Vikings’ defense picked off Goff for the first of two times, Minnesota couldn’t find the end zone from the seven-yard line this time, and more poor throws were seen from Darnold. 

Darnold was pestered all game with Glenn dialing up pressure, forcing the Vikings star to speed up his "quarterback clock" as he went through his progressions. He ultimately finished 18-for-41 for 166 yards – his lowest output all season – as the Vikings didn’t score a touchdown all game. 

The victory was sealed by Gibbs’ fourth touchdown of the game, which was a drive that he carried all the way down the Lions’ field. It began with a 47-yard run to push him over 100 yards rushing on the night. 

Then, after the Lions got the Vikings to jump into the neutral zone on fourth-and-2, Gibbs bullied his way into the end zone, carrying multiple Vikings defenders with him to score a four-yard rush for his fourth touchdown of the night. 

Gibbs finished the game with 139 rushing yards on 23 carries and 31 receiving yards on his big night, while Amon-Ra St. Brown had six catches for 77 yards to lead the Lions through the air. 

Goff was 27-for-33 for 231 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. 

With this NFC North finish, the 2024 NFL regular season has come to an end, and the playoffs are set for Wild Card Weekend in a few days. 

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The Detroit Lions technically didn’t need to win Monday night’s matchup with the San Francisco 49ers, begging the question of whether head coach Dan Campbell would pull his starters at some point in this game. 

But, as Campbell has shown us too many times in the past, he’s never going to let up no matter the situation. And after saying it will be "full throttle" on the West Coast this week, he meant it. 

The Lions took down the 49ers, 40-34, where the starters played throughout the game on both sides of the ball. 

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Detroit remembers well what happened in January at Levi’s Stadium, having blown a massive first-half lead in the NFC Championship Game. So, there was a bit of revenge in this one despite the 49ers being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. 

Jared Goff passed his way to three touchdowns, going 26-of-34 for 303 yards in another stellar performance for the Lions. He found Sam LaPorta and Amon-Ra St. Brown, but by far the best Lions touchdown was yet another lateral play that worked to perfection. 

Earlier this season, it was St. Brown dishing it back to Jahmyr Gibbs for the score against the Arizona Cardinals. Well, the same concept was used as St. Brown caught the quick slant from Goff, but the speedy Jameson Williams came behind him and took the ball to the house on a 41-yard run. 

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At that point, it was a 14-13 game, as Brock Purdy and the 49ers’ offense were clicking well to start this game. 

Purdy orchestrated three straight touchdown drives against Detroit to open it up, including a strike to rookie Ricky Pearsall on the opening drive of the game. Then, he needed just six plays on the next drive to find Kyle Juszczyk from nine yards out, and the third touchdown was a scramble by Purdy for nine yards to make it 21-13. 

However, the second half saw a Lions dominance that has been felt by many teams this season. It began with a quick opening drive that saw LaPorta get in the end zone from six yards out. But, once again, the 49ers answered with a touchdown of their own, as Deebo Samuel found his way into pay dirt to retake the lead, 28-21. 

This back-and-forth battle was only going to fall off the rails when one team forced the issue, and that’s exactly what Aaron Glenn’s Lions defense did after making it 28-24 with a Jake Bates field goal. 

Kerby Joseph, who now leads the NFL in interceptions this season, picked off a Purdy throw that sailed over Pearsall’s head. And when Detroit creates turnovers, points usually follow. 

That’s when St. Brown’s touchdown, a four-yard catch, came for the Lions, who went for it on fourth-and-goal to take a 31-28 lead. The ensuing drives saw a missed Jake Moody field goal from 58 yards out, followed by yet another Joseph interception, which gave him nine for the year. 

That interception led to the nail in the coffin, as Gibbs, who rushed for 117 yards on just 18 carries, broke a 30-yard touchdown run to add to the Lions’ offensive onslaught. 

Purdy was eventually injured on the final 49ers drive of the game, but backup Josh Dobbs did add to the score with a scramble touchdown run to make it a 40-34 game. But the onside kick attempt to keep the game alive was recovered by Detroit. 

Looking more at the stat sheet, St. Brown led the Lions with eight receptions for 60 yards, while LaPorta finished with 64 yards on six catches. 

Purdy would’ve had a brilliant performance if it wasn’t for the two interceptions, as he was 27-for-35 for 377 yards with three touchdowns. Pearsall had 141 receiving yards for the game-high on eight catches, while George Kittle matched his eight receptions for 112 yards. Jauan Jennings also finished with 67 yards on seven catches. 

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Josh Allen added to his MVP resume on Sunday as he accounted for four touchdowns in the Buffalo Bills’ 48-42 win over the Detroit Lions on the road. 

The Bills moved to 11-3 on the season, while the Lions are now 12-2. 

Allen, the MVP frontrunner in Vegas, threw for 362 yards on 23-of-34 passing with two passing touchdowns. But the first two scores for Buffalo in this one came on the ground for Allen, who had 11 carries for 68 yards. 

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Buffalo got off to a 14-0 start at a tough Ford Field as Allen orchestrated back-to-back touchdown drives in which he scored from one yard out and four yards out, respectively. 

Jared Goff and the Lions, though, are one of the best offenses in the league, and you knew they were going to respond somehow.

On the Lions’ third drive, Goff found Tim Patrick after scrambling out of the pocket, and he used his entire wingspan to get the ball across the goal line to make it a 14-7 game. 

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But James Cook, who had two touchdowns and 105 yards rushing on 14 carries, found the end zone for the first time on the ensuing drive to maintain the gap.

It’s what the Bills did all game long: maintaining the lead despite how many times the Lions scored. 

And they got in six times as Goff threw for a whopping 494 yards and five touchdowns on 38-of-59 passing. 

Amon-Ra St. Brown, his trusty target, had 14 catches to account for 193 of those yards with a score on a 66-yard catch-and-run, and Jahmyr Gibbs tallied one on the ground and one through the air. 

Goff even threw a touchdown to offensive lineman Dan Skipper from nine yards out as offensive coordinator Ben Johnson pulled out all the stops to get back into the game. 

But Allen and the Bills would reciprocate the scores, with Ray Davis and Khalil Shakir accounting for Allen’s passing touchdowns on the day. 

Ty Johnson, Cook’s backup, was also the leading receiver for Buffalo with 114 yards on five catches.

For the Lions, Sam LaPorta had 111 yards on seven catches and Gibbs finished with 83 yards.

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All the Detroit Lions do lately is win football games. 

The Dan Campbell-led Lions knocked off the Green Bay Packers to secure an NFL-best 12th win Thursday night. Campbell's fourth down gambles helped lift Detroit to a 34-31 victory. 

The fourth-year Lions head coach elected to keep the offense on the field on fourth down five times. But the fifth time in the fourth quarter proved to be the most crucial. Although quarterback Jared Goff tripped during the handoff exchange with running back David Montgomery, the Lions still managed to put Lions kicker Jake Bates in position for a 35-yard field goal attempt.

Bates split the uprights as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

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A fired up Campbell addressed the team in the home locker room after the game.

"I told you you’d never forget this f------- game," Campbell said as Lions players cheered. "We don’t have to talk about how tough we are. We don’t have to talk about how resilient we are. We f------ live it man. We’ve been living it!"

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At one point during Campbell's fiery victory speech, he noticed Lions offensive lineman Dan Skipper was leaning over one of the locker room's trash cans. Skipper took over the Lions starting left tackle duties Thursday in place of the injured Taylor Decker.

"There you go, Skip! Keep throwing up, keep doing whatever you’re doing over there," Campbell said. "That’s a way to freakin’ lay it on the line."

Skipper delivered a solid performance, allowing just one pressure on 44 pass blocking plays.

While the Lions have won 12 of 13 games this season, the team has faced its fair share of adversity with injuries.

In October, star defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson fractured his left tibia and fibula. The injury will likely sideline him for the remainder of the regular season, but he could return to action in February should the Lions advance to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.

"I'm so freaking proud of you. That’s the way to show up," Campbell said. "You talk about pressure? We live in pressure. That’s where we freaking thrive. You did it again. It doesn’t matter who’s playing for us. It doesn’t matter what’s going on.

"You always find a way to win. This has been in the making, man. This has been in the making. We were all supposed to be here together, man. We’re destined for this. Just stay the course."

The Lions host the Buffalo Bills Dec. 15.

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The Detroit Lions were enjoying some turkey after taking down their NFC North-rival Chicago Bears, 23-20, on Thanksgiving Day. 

Detroit made some history in the process, going 11-1 for the first time in the franchise’s history. The Bears fell to 4-8 on the season. 

Another milestone was reached for this great Lions team, as their defensive efforts kept the Bears scoreless in the first half. It was the first time this season the Lions had shut out a team in the first half. 

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Meanwhile, quarterback Jared Goff and the Lions’ electric offense put up 16 points, though they were limited in the red zone by their standards as kicker Jake Bates notched three field goals in the first half to account for nine of the 16 points. 

Tight end Sam LaPorta, who scored two touchdowns for the Lions, collected his first in the second quarter as Goff threw a laser to him from three yards out to make it 10-0 at the time. 

In the second half, though, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and his offense turned things around, as their opening drive resulted in a Keenan Allen touchdown from 31 yards out, as the rookie signal caller put it right on the wide receiver's numbers and Allen ran it into the end zone. 

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But the Lions quickly responded, using over seven minutes of clock for LaPorta to find the end zone once more after Goff ran a perfect play-action pass that left the tight end wide open for the score. 

Williams and the Bears didn’t back down, however, as they marched 70 yards for Allen to get into the end zone again to keep the Lions’ lead at 10 after a failed two-point conversion. 

Then, after Bates missed his first field goal of the game, the Bears took advantage of the great field position as Williams threw a dime to wide receiver D.J. Moore for a touchdown down the left sideline from 31 yards out to make it a three-point game. 

The Bears were able to get the ball back again with three minutes left, but a perfect punt left Chicago at the one-yard line to make it as hard as possible to get a chance to at least tie the game. 

But one of the weirdest endings to a game in recent memory came when Williams was sacked to make it third-and-26, leaving 30-plus seconds on the clock. Williams lost track of time, however, and took way too long to get the play off, ultimately launching a prayer to wide receiver Rome Odunze that fell incomplete to end the game.

Even more weird was head coach Matt Eberflus still having a timeout in his pocket. Knowing his quarterback was taking too long, he could have used it to preserve time — but the Bears found yet another improbable way to lose. 

In the box score, the "Sonic & Knuckles" backfield of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs put in work against the Bears’ defense to once again lead the way for the Lions' offense. 

Gibbs needed only nine carries to tally 87 yards on the ground, while Montgomery had 21 carries for 88 yards. 

Goff went 21-of-34 for 221 yards, with wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown leading the pack with 73 yards on five receptions.

Meanwhile, Williams turned up in the second half, finishing with 256 yards with his three touchdown passes. Allen had 73 yards, while Moore finished with 97.

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