How Detroit Lions are planning to take next step to Super Bowl in 2024: 'It takes more'

For most of his NFL career, Taylor Decker has watched the Super Bowl start to finish. This year, the Detroit Lions’ veteran left tackle couldn’t bear the thought.

“I think I watched a quarter of it and was just kind of disinterested because, I don’t know, I felt like we matched up well with anybody that we were going to play,” Decker said. “It was a disappointment, especially as special of a year as it was, to end it going home early was a bummer, for sure.”

The Lions exceeded most people’s expectations going into last season, winning 12 games, the NFC North title and two playoff games for the first time in 66 years.

They beat the Los Angeles Rams in a memorable wild card game at Ford Field, then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round, but fell just short of the Super Bowl, blowing a 17-point first-half lead in a 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game.

Nearly three months later, players still are haunted by that defeat and determined to use it as a springboard for the 2024 season.

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“We’ve kind of been talking that the motto this next year is, ‘It takes more,’” tight end Brock Wright said. “So I think everybody will have to step up their game.”

Asked to define what “more” it will take to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history, Wright said, “I think it’s everything.”

“A wholistic approach,” he said. “It starts at the top with Brad (Holmes) and Dan (Campbell) all the way down. Going in here, starting OTAs, it takes more in the way we prepare and then getting into training camp and the season, I think just got to go above and beyond in every aspect knowing that we got so close last year but there’s even more that we got to do if we want to win it all this year.”

The Lions got their offseason off to a good start, bolstering their roster with the free agent additions of D.J. Reader, Amik Robertson, Marcus Davenport and Kevin Zeitler, retaining veterans like Wright and Emmanuel Moseley, and keeping coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn despite head coaching interest from other teams.

They’re expected to sign cornerstone players Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown to contract extensions this offseason, and have seven picks in next week’s draft plus ample remaining cap space – about $27 million – to address lingering depth concerns at receiver, offensive line and on the defensive side of the ball.

The Lions opened the offseason program with voluntary workouts Monday, and while Decker said they’ve yet to have a formal team meeting to discuss expectations for 2024, it’s no secret what players are aiming for.

“I think we all know what the goal is and it’s always been the goal,” Goff said. “I don’t think it was not the goal last year. I think we got a chance to kind of taste it last year so you get to see what it feels like, but that’s the goal every year and this year it’s absolutely the goal.”

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Campbell cautioned after the playoff loss to the 49ers there was no guarantee the Lions would be able to replicate their success from last season, despite keeping the nucleus of their team largely intact.

The NFL has had at least four new playoff teams in 34 consecutive seasons, and the NFC North should be stronger up top this year with Jordan Love entering his second season as Green Bay Packers starting quarterback and the Chicago Bears surrounding presumptive No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams with a talented roster.

Goff acknowledged outside expectations will rise for Lions this season, and said players will elevate their standards to be better, too.

“I think Dan put it great at the end of last year is how much harder it’s going to be, and we know that,” he said. “It’s going to be harder. People are going to be gunning for us. It’s going to be hard to first defend our division title, that’s No. 1, and then see where we can go from there. But yeah, absolutely, holding that trophy at the end of the year, only one team gets to do it and that’s our goal.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions have new motto in pursuit of Super Bowl: 'It takes more'