No team has notched more regular-season wins since Week 1 of the 2023 campaign than the Detroit Lions (27).
That said, the Lions failed to appear in either of the past two Super Bowl games, and the club suffered a brutal 45-31 divisional-round playoff loss to the Washington Commanders this past January.
On Sunday, Lions running back David Montgomery made it clear that he feels the current Detroit squad should have a Super-Bowl-or-bust mentality ahead of the upcoming season.
“Everybody’s tired of being close,” Montgomery explained, as shared by Eric Woodyard of ESPN. “It’s cool to be close at first, but you don’t want to get comfortable with being close all the time. That’s not what you want to be known for, especially when you know you’ve got the guys you’ve got on this team. You want to finish it, so this is the year for us. The year of the reckoning and the year that we choose that we need to finish.”
In January 2024, Detroit squandered a 24-7 halftime lead en route to losing that year’s NFC Championship Game to the San Francisco 49ers. More recently, the Lions battled through a significant injury crisis as they won 15 of 17 games last season. However, those setbacks caught up with Detroit when it mattered the most.
“This is probably the hungriest that I have been because I feel like a lot of people kind of forget that I’m here in the offense, too,” Montgomery added about being part of a unit that features players such as fellow ball-carrier Jahmyr Gibbs, quarterback Jared Goff and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. “So, I’m not here to prove anybody wrong. I’m here to prove myself right and be the best teammate that I can be. But I’ve definitely got a big chip on my shoulder.”
As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Lions fifth among the betting favorites at +1100 odds to win Super Bowl LX this coming February. That same outlet had Detroit’s Dan Campbell at +2200 odds to claim Coach of the Year Award honors for the 2025 season.
“I’m still as enthusiastic as ever. I know these guys are,” Campbell said. “There’s a price to be paid to get yourself back into the dance — back into the tournament — and that will never change. If we let that slide at all, then we’re going to be sitting here at home in January, and that’s not what we want.”
