DETROIT – Dan Campbell didn’t bat an eyelid.

When the Detroit Lions head coach encountered the ball from Green Bay’s 21-yard line with 43 seconds left and the game tied at 31, he decided to give it a try.

The gamble paid off as Lions running back David Montgomery plowed up the field for seven yards. The conversion helped set up a walk-off kick for Jake Bates, who made a 35-yard field goal as time expired, giving Detroit a 34-31 win over the Packers on Thursday. With the win, the Lions also secured a spot in the playoffs for the second year in a row, something that had not happened in Detroit since 1994-95.

“I just felt like we had to finish it on offense,” Campbell said. “I didn’t want to give the ball back and I believed we could get it and I believed we could convert it. I trusted O-Line and I trusted David, and they came through for us.”

“That’s a great call from Ben,” he said, referring to offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. “I knew how I wanted to play this game. The team knew it and everything in me said let’s finish this, and we did.”

For Bates, who was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November, it was his third game-winning kick of the season. His others came on a 52-yard kick in Week 10 at Houston and a 44-yard kick in Week 7 at Minnesota.

But Bates remained balanced after Thursday night’s win, even as the Lions are on an 11-game winning streak, their longest in franchise history.

“I try to stay as balanced as possible and be the same person every day. Fipp likes to say, ‘Never ride a roller coaster,'” Bates said, referring to Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp. “So don’t ride the ups and downs and just stay here.”

According to ESPN Research, the Lions had four fourth-down conversions against Green Bay, their most in a game this season and most in a game in the last 40 seasons.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, they became the second team in the last 45 seasons to score the win on fourth down inside the opposing team’s 25-yard line, with the game tied in the final minute. The Cincinnati Bengals also did it in Week 17 of the 2021 season against the Kansas City Chiefs by securing the first down through a defensive penalty and ultimately kicking a game-winning field goal.

Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown praised Campbell’s supreme confidence in those moments.

“We knew the whole game we were going to go for it on fourth down,” St. Brown said. “That was the plan, but in the end I didn’t know we were going to try it. It kind of surprised me too. But like I said, we’re used to it now. If he says do it.” “We’re all in on it. I wasn’t there in the game where they did it, but I had confidence in the guys on the field.”

Detroit secured a 12-win season for the third time in franchise history, joining the 1991 and 2023 squads. But despite a 6-1 record in their last seven games against Green Bay, Campbell said he respects the NFC North’s competitiveness as the Lions push for a chance to clinch the conference’s top seed.

“Our department is pretty darn good,” Campbell said. “I mean, it’s really good. In my opinion it is the best league in football. We have top-notch talent, we have top-notch coaches and players and the whole thing. The competition is really elite. That’s what I think. “That’s just another reason why you have to do everything you can to win this division because if you can do that and play at home, you’ll achieve a lot with the teams we have.”