GREEN BAY, Wis. – The road to the NFC North has always led through Green Bay. And for years the Detroit Lions couldn't win here at all. They lost 24 straight seasons at Wisconsin. No one in the history of this game has ever been so haunted by a road venue. No one else. Nowhere else. Not always.

Nowadays they only need two fingers to show what they think about it all.

Just ask Brian Branch, who threw the double birds on the Packers sideline after being ejected in the second quarter. Another Lions team might have – who are we kidding? would – folded after losing such a player. Especially after losing Aidan Hutchinson. And Marcus Davenport. And Jameson Williams. And Derrick Barnes. And …

…and this team?

Their defense scored as many touchdowns (one) as they allowed (one), their offense scored two more on fourth down, and they played nearly flawless football in the middle of a rainstorm so intense they might as well have been playing in a rainstorm can car wash. They claimed a 24-14 victory, their third in a row at this enchanted ground, making the matter clearer than ever.

The road to the NFC North now leads through Detroit.

“It’s a statement to the NFC,” safety Kerby Joseph said. “I feel like we really control NFC.”

No doubt. And there is something poetic about this statement being made here.

The Lions were a laughing stock most of our lives, and here in Green Bay they were at their worst. But the tide began to turn in 2022 when a 1-6 team somehow managed to knock off the Packers in Week 9.

They are 29-9 since that day, the second-best record in the NFL. That includes a win at Green Bay that kept the Packers out of the playoffs in 2022. They returned a year later and won two straight games at Lambeau for the first time since 1990-91. On Sunday they achieved third place in a row for the first time since 1986/88.

From the longest losing streak in league history here to the longest winning streak in any player's lifetime here. None of the 53 players on the roster were born the last time the Lions won like this in Lambeau.

“We know we’re killers, man,” cornerback Amik Robertson. “Kill kills. That’s what we do.”

And they do that every week now. The Lions (7-1) have rattled off six straight wins, their longest winning streak since 1995, and have now climbed to the top of the NFC. Their showdown in Green Bay would be their biggest test of all, with the Packers lurking just half a game behind. The Lions also suffered from the loss of Aidan Hutchinson, while Jameson Williams was serving the end of a two-game suspension.

Then Amon-Ra St. Brown stepped off the bus in a “GREEN BAY SUCKS” sweatshirt, laced up his cleats and caught a brilliant fourth-down pass that had cornerback Keisean Nixon hanging all over him on the offense’s first series. The Lions never trailed again, stealing 24 straight points before Green Bay finally reached the end zone in the final four minutes of the game.

At this point the statement was already in hand.

“We're supposed to be the dome team that can't play outside,” said Jared Goff, who just became the only Lions quarterback to ever win three straight seasons at Lambeau Field. “We should be the team that can only win in one direction. And I think we've shown a few times that we can win in more than one way. We are chameleons. And whatever it takes to win, we’ll do that.”

They can win on the ground, where David Montgomery (73 yards on 17 carries) and Jahmyr Gibbs (65 yards and a four-down TD on 11 carries) play like the best one-two combination in football. They can win through the air, where Goff (18 of 22 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown) is the league's most accurate quarterback, hasn't thrown a pick since Week 3 and trails only Lamar Jackson in pass rating. He's a real MVP candidate.

Even without Jameson Williams, they can still average 36 points per game. (He will be back next week). Even without Hutchinson and pretty much every other pass rusher you've heard of this season, they can win with defense. (Za'Darius Smith could reportedly be coming to Allen Park this week.)

They can have a boat race with you in a dome.

They can beat you in a car wash.

They can even beat you for three years at Lambeau Field as Branch throws a few birds on the Packers sideline, chants of “JAR-ED GOFF” echoing through those hallowed halls as the drenched fans finally make their way out make the exits, and St. Brown walks to the team bus wearing a “GREEN BAY SUCKS” sweatshirt. On the back it said, “DETROIT (EXPLETIVE).” Here’s a clue: It rhymes with SUCKS.

You don't just win. They win big and with utter disrespect.

The message is clear: all roads now lead through Detroit.

“We’re built for this, man,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “Just because we’re playing indoors, it doesn’t matter. We can play anywhere. We can play in the snow, play in the rain, play in the mud. That's just us. We are built to win.”

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