The NFL pre-season has officially started. The Detroit Lions’ training camp started on Sunday (June 23), and the buzz is strong. It’s so strong, in fact, that head coach Dan Campbell had to address the hype with the press. Most of the Detroit Lions Training Camp early observations address that hype and why it’s real this time around.

Detroit Lions Training Camp: Early Observations

“I think as always, the thing that’s gonna worry you is the hype train,” Campbell said Sunday (June 23), via ESPN. “I mean, as with most coaches, this thing is just taking off and it’s out of control right now and that’s fine, as long as we stay focused on the job at hand and the work.” He added, “I just keep going back to that. We’ve got to put the work in and earn it.”

So, how long has it been since the Lions have been this buzzed-about in the NFL? Well, the team hasn’t won a playoff game since 1991. The last time they made the postseason was seven years ago, under head coach Jim Caldwell. Now, the Lions are betting favorites to win the NFC North. They’re also favorite to make it to the playoffs. The Lions are even one of the teams people think could win the Super Bowl this season.

It doesn’t hurt that the Lions became America’s sweethearts during HBO’s “Hard Knocks” last year. The cameras followed them around, and they were splattered on TV sets across America. But, this year, it’s easy to tell that the Lions are happy to have the cameras off. It’s time to get serious.

The Detroit Lions had an incredible late-season turnaround in 2022. The team scored an 8-2 record in final 10 games. That included beating the Green Bay Packers in Week 18, marking the second time the Lions beat them that season.

The buzz is real, but it’s good to see Campbell not letting it get to his head. Another key piece of the Lions puzzle, Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff, also isn’t letting the hype distract him.

“That so-called ‘hype train,’ I think it’s funny to me that like you go 9-8, you don’t make the playoffs and now you’re all of a sudden the favorite,” Goff said on Sunday, via ESPN. “Of course, we’ve got good players, we’ve got good coaches, we’ve got a good team, but we haven’t done anything.”

Goff added, “We have a lot of work to do. Minnesota won 13 games last year, Green Bay’s won the division a handful of times in the last handful of years, so we’ve got some work to do to put the stamp on who we want to be and are nowhere near that yet, but are on our way.”