FIRST DOWN: ROAD WARRIORS
The Lions have taken on a Detroit vs. Everybody mentality on the road all season long and have embraced the difficulty of winning on the road in the NFL.
"The us against everybody mentality and how tight this group is and how close we are that comes out for us on the road," Lions quarterback Jared Goff said after Detroit beat San Francisco, 40-34, Monday night to finish 8-0 on the road during the regular season.
"Our culture and how prideful we are and what we want to do. Also, our fans have shown up to road games and made a difference and felt like semi-home games. That's important."
It's the first time in franchise history a Lions team has gone undefeated on the road during the regular season.
"It shows the type of guys we got," head coach Dan Campbell said. "Shows the type of players we have. We're a resilient group. We just are. We're built to handle things that not everybody can do. You go 8-0 on the road that means you're a pretty damn good team and you can handle adversity."
SECOND DOWN: CLUTCH KERBY
After racking up seven interceptions in his first 10 games of the season, Lions safety Kerby Joseph was on a five-game drought.
That came to an end Monday night in Santa Clara as Joesph came up with two huge second-half interceptions that Detroit turned into 13 points in a win over the San Francisco 49ers to improve to 14-2 on the year.
Joseph is the first Lions safety to record nine-plus interceptions and a pick-six in a season since Jack Christiansen (1957). He is also the first Lions player since Jimmy Allen (1981) to record nine interceptions in a season.
"Really proud of him because it's what we talked about," Campbell said of there being an emphasis on creating takeaways this week. "When we needed it the most, man, he came up big. We've been talking about it and we knew we needed to get takeaways and it was just another example of playing complementary football.
"Man, he came up in a big way. Not just the picks but he had some critical tackles in this game and really showed up for us. It was big."
Joseph said his super power is taking the football away and he's glad he got back to it. He had one earlier in the game that was called back due to a penalty.
"I envisioned it," Joseph said of the success both he and the team have had this season. "I knew this was going to happen. I didn't put a number on it, I just wanted to lead the pack. I wanted to separate myself and be different. I want to be great in this league. I don't want to be no average Joe. I want to be great."
THIRD DOWN: GIBBS' WORKLOAD
Second-year running back Jahmyr Gibbs has had to carry the load in the run game the last two weeks after David Montgomery injured his knee two weeks ago against Buffalo.
Gibbs carried it 23 times for 109 yards (4.7 avg.) with a touchdown as the Lions racked up 146 total rushing yards in a winning effort over the Bears in Chicago last week.
Gibbs carried it 18 times Monday night in the win over the 49ers for 117 yards (6.5) and a touchdown as Detroit churned up 152 yards on the ground on 33 carries. Craig Reynolds had a nice night for Detroit too, chipping in 31 yards on seven carries (4.4).
Gibbs joined Hall of Famer Barry Sanders (1991) as the only players in Lions history to record at least 1,700 scrimmage yards and 17 touchdowns in a season.
FOURTH DOWN: OFFENSIVE WEAPONS
Gibbs isn't the only one who has had a monster year for this record-breaking Detroit Lions offense that has recorded the most points, touchdowns and first downs in team history.
With wide receiver Jameson Williams totaling 75 scrimmage yards with two touchdowns against the 49ers, Detroit has become the first team in NFL history to have two running backs (Montgomery and Gibbs) and two receivers (Amon-Ra St. Brown and Williams) all top 1,000 scrimmage yards in a single season.
Detroit is just the second offense in league history (Colts in 2004) to have four players with at least 1,000 scrimmage yards and seven touchdowns in a season.
"It's really cool," Goff said of playing quarterback with so much skill-position talent around him, along with playing behind one of the best offensive lines in football.
"And like (Sam) LaPorta is as good as it gets and has done a hell of a job, too. We have a good group and a very unselfish group, which is the best part about it. Those guys just want to see each other succeed and just want to win. To do something like that is very cool."
