The Detroit Lions have a different feel from years past.
With training camp opening Wednesday, the Lions formally began the 2024 season. After winning the first division title in three decades and making a run to the NFC Championship game last season, confidence is aplenty inside the walls of the team's Allen Park facility.
Among those feeling the new wave of confidence is wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who is coming off an All-Pro season. Having been with the team since the start of the Dan Campbell era, the USC product is part of the core foundation that has been essential to the recent success.
After surprising some last year with postseason success, the Lions are not running from expectations. Rather, leaders such as St. Brown are embracing the hype and using it as fuel.
“I think we’re really confident. Each year, you get into that meeting on the first day and it’s like, ‘What do you want to accomplish as a team?’ I can truthfully say this year, it’s not even playoffs," St. Brown said. "It’s not (being the) number one seed, it’s the Super Bowl. That’s the feeling with everyone in the room. Personally, I feel like truly as a team, we all feel the same way. We all want to win the Super Bowl, we know we can win the Super Bowl. We have the team, we have the coaches. We have everything we need in this building to win a Super Bowl. That’s our goal, that’s our focus, and everything we do from here on moving forward is to get that Super Bowl.”
Last season, the Lions entered training camp with a more moderate sense of hype. They finished the 2022 season on a winning surge, and the belief was that the team would prove its legitimacy as a contender by winning their division in 2023.
They did just that, then rode a wave of momentum through the first two rounds of the playoffs before an untimely collapse against the San Francisco 49ers. Now, the team knows what it is capable of and is setting high goals as a result.
“Last year around this time, the year before we were 9-8, barely missed the playoffs," St. Brown said. "So for us, I feel like going into last year it was like, ‘Let’s win the division, let’s get into the playoffs and once we get there, we can go get that Super Bowl.’
"Last year, let’s win the division, get to the playoffs and hopefully once we get there we can go make a run at it. This year, it’s like, obviously you can’t win the Super Bowl without making the playoffs. Number one seed, all that stuff sounds good, but our main goal is the Super Bowl. I feel like everyone in the room is thinking the same way. I think just the thought alone is that it means a lot.”
Inside Allen Park
#26 Jahmyr Gibbs
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One more box to check
Last season, the Lions made a point of acknowledging how long it had been since the franchise previously won both a division title and a playoff game. The years of each time they'd last accomplished those feats lined the back of the team meeting room.
Now, after the Lions did both last season, those numbers have been taped over. However, the Lions know that in order to reach the ultimate goal, they will have to once again take the previous two steps.
“Those are still up there, and there’s still taped through with old school tape. It just looks better that way. But we’ve checked the box on two, and we’ve got one more to check," Campbell said. "But to get there, we’ve got to check those first two one more time and update them. Everything starts with finding a way to win your division. You do that, you’ve got to put in the work, man. You’ve got to find a way to win the first game of the season and then you go from there.” '
#Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown says the goal of the team is not even playoffs or the No. 1 seed, it’s the Super Bowl. “We all want to win the Super Bowl, we know we can win the Super Bowl,” he said. “We have the team, we have the coaches. We have everything we need.” pic.twitter.com/RW5E0CQrOx
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) July 24, 2024
This focus points to the larger mindset echoed by St. Brown, who believes that the Lions have what it takes to set themselves apart from the rest of the league.
Every team enters the season with high expectations, but the Lions feel as though their blend of experience and talent give them a chance to make good on the hype surrounding them this offseason.
“I think we all know what the goal is. It doesn’t need to be said. We all, in the room, as a team, we’ve got one goal, and that’s the Super Bowl," St. Brown stated. "We’re not looking any further, we’re not looking anywhere else. Obviously you’ve got to take it one game at a time every week, we understand that. The end goal, I think for every team, is to win the Super Bowl. But some teams it’s just different. For us, we know we’re capable of doing it but we’ve got to put the work in.”
