Michael Rothstein, ESPN Staff Writer 7y

Beating Saints proved Lions are legit NFC contenders

NEW ORLEANS -- Eric Ebron was on the bench during the fourth quarter Sunday talking with his Detroit Lions teammates when he made a pretty fair – and accurate – statement. For once this season, the Lions were glad to see someone else have to try to come from behind to win.

This has been the way of the Lions, the continual comeback crew that never gave up belief even as time whittled away and they needed to convert in clutch situations. This had been the Lions every week this season, leading them to seven wins and a first-place spot in the NFC North.

They had been the ones needing the comeback from quarterback Matthew Stafford or the timely turnover forced by the defense. And it’s why what Detroit did Sunday is even more impressive – and important – for the rest of the Lions' season. By thoroughly controlling New Orleans in a 28-13 win Sunday, the Lions took an important step to being a legitimate contender in the NFC.

A win like the Lions had Sunday – on the road against one of the top offenses in the NFL where they never trailed and took complete control throughout – is progress. It’s something the Lions have looked for this season. They knew they couldn’t win every game in the fashion they had been – comeback style – and have it be sustainable.

Sunday showed a different level of belief.

“It just says that us as a team, we believe in ourselves. We don’t care about nobody else, man,” Ebron said. “We don’t care what anybody else says. We came in this to win and we knew we were going to win the game. That’s all that matters.

“Between us, all of us on the team, all of us that play a part, we knew we were going to win this game. That’s all that matters and that’s all we care about.”

Detroit finally broke out Sunday by not breaking at all. Detroit needed a game like this to show itself and the rest of the NFL it can be a third contender for the NFC title. along with Dallas and Seattle.

Before, the Lions were a nice, funky story before with quirky ways to win games and a quarterback with rising star potential.

The way they beat the Saints, by reaching the red zone on five drives – and that didn’t even count a 66-yard touchdown from Stafford to Golden Tate and a 52-yard Matt Prater field goal – was impressive. So was holding Drew Brees and the Saints' offense to 13 points, three interceptions, only one drive of more than seven plays and kept Brees from throwing a touchdown at home for the first time since 2009.

That’s more. That’s just what good NFL teams do. They take control and don’t let go.

“Pretty doggone good, you know, that’s for sure,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. “And we played pretty well in all phases [Sunday] and we’d still like to get better. Probably came out of the red zone with a few less touchdowns than we’d like.

“We’ve got a lot to improve upon, I can tell you that.”

It was that thorough, an almost complete victory for the Lions where they were left lamenting kicking field goals – Prater had five – instead of scoring touchdowns. That’s where Detroit is now. It’s a good place to be because it means the Lions are a dangerous team and one that may have found something more than fourth-quarter magic.

Detroit has won seven of its past eight games, but this was by far the most complete and perhaps the best the Lions have looked all season.

“We’re winning games in the most important part of the year, in December,” safety Rafael Bush said. “So we’re definitely going in the right way. We gotta continue to keep striving. We know this time of the year it gets down to the nitty-gritty so every game is going to be a big game from here on out.

“So we just want to continue to keep on improving and when we get in the playoffs just pick up where we left off.”

The playoffs are a real conversation for the Lions right now, sitting two games up in the NFC North with four games to play. And it’s a team playing with real confidence now. They believe in each other. They look around the room and have faith they will never be out of a game and always find a way to win it.

Those last-minute wins have helped. Sunday might have solidified it even more.

“Of course it does. The more you win, the more confidence you get,” defensive tackle Haloti Ngata said. “Like I said, we’re continuing to have more faith in each other and now it’s going to be a hard bond to break the more we win.”

And so far, the Lions have been winning a bunch, which should concern everyone else in the NFC.

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