This is the Detroit Lions' year to win big— that is, if we are to trust the word of running back David Montgomery, who said as much at training camp on Sunday.
The team notched a franchise-best 15 wins last season, when they were also the No. 1 seed in the NFC for the first time ever, but were still knocked out of the playoffs early by the underdog Washington Commanders. And the year before that, the scrappy squad made it to the NFC Championship for the first time since 1991, but lost that game to the San Francisco 49ers.
All to say, they're close to the mountaintop, but haven't gotten the job done. And Montgomery & Co. are understandably weary of it.
"Everybody's tired of being close," Montgomery said Sunday, per ESPN's Eric Woodyard. "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 support of that mentality, Montgomery also made clear that he's not messing around this season.
"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," said the running back, who suffered an MCL injury late last season. "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."
It would be electric to see the Lions make it all the way and capture a franchise-first Super Bowl title; Dan Campbell's reaction alone would make it worth it. But there are 18-plus games between now and then—so we'll just have to see how it goes.
Football season can't come soon enough.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lions' David Montgomery Got Real About Frustrations of 'Being Close' to Super Bowl.
