Lions celebrate regular-season milestones, rest up for the NFC playoffs

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Lions and their ear-ringing fans celebrated a feat that the franchise pulled off for the first time.

Fireworks went off and streamers came down from the rafters while fog machines filled the air with a haze as Lions players and coaches hugged on the Ford Field turf.

The Lions' 31-9 win over Minnesota on Sunday night gave them a No. 1 seed in the NFL playoffs and home-field advantage through the NFC for the first time, increasing their chances of finally making it to a Super Bowl.

“It's step one,” quarterback Jared Goff said. "We’re proud to be 15-2, NFC North division champs — back to back, one seed, bye week — all that stuff.

"But this just tick No. 1 and tick No. 2 is next.”

The Lions, who won consecutive division titles for the first time, will host the lowest-seed still standing in the NFC playoffs in the divisional round Jan. 18 or 19. If Detroit avoids getting upset in that game, it will be a win away from the ultimate destination.

Detroit is one of four NFL teams without a Super Bowl appearance along with Cleveland, Houston and Jacksonville.

Since the Lions were an NFL power in the 1950s, winning three titles in a six-year stretch, they failed to have much success in the playoffs until last year.

After winning their last league championship in 1957, they had one playoff victory until general manager Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell worked together to find the right players and assistants to win when it matters.

Detroit won two games in one postseason last season for the first time in six-plus decades before blowing a 17-point, third-quarter lead at San Francisco in the NFC championship game.

The Lions earned the right to stay home for the conference playoffs and hope their loud fans make Ford Field an advantage twice this month.

“It’s a great atmosphere for sure,” Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said.

Giving the ball to Jahymr Gibbs. He scored three of his franchise-record tying four touchdowns in the second half, helping Detroit score the final 21 points of the regular-season finale to pull away from the 14-win Vikings.

Gibbs ran 23 times for 139 yards and a career-high three touchdowns and had five catches for 31 yards and another score, carrying a heavy load for a third straight game without injured running back David Montgomery.

“When he gets into space, he’s really tough to get him down,” O'Connell said.

Gibbs set a single-season franchise record with 20 touchdowns.

He joined Hall of Famers O.J. Simpson (1975) and Marshall Faulk (2000) along with David Johnson (2016) as the four players in league history to have 1,900 yards or more from scrimmage and at least 16 rushing touchdowns.

The injury report. Detroit's roster has been decimated by assorted ailments. Rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold, guard Kevin Zeitler and defensive lineman Pat O’Connor all came out of the Minnesota game with injuries.

Amik Robertson. The 26-year-old cornerback covered star receiver Justin Jefferson about as well as possible, helping to limit him to three catches for 54 yards. Jefferson caught a season-low 33.3% of the passes thrown toward him.

“When they told me the assignment was to guard Jefferson, I knew we had a chance to win because I always believe in myself,” Robertson said.

Goff was selected last week to the Pro Bowl, but had one of his worst games statistically of the season on Sunday night. Goff had an 80.7 passer rating, his third lowest of the season, and was picked off twice after throwing only one interception in the previous seven games.

Arnold (foot), Zeitler (right hamstring) and O’Connor (calf) will benefit from the bye.

146 — Sam LaPorta matched a season high with seven receptions, giving him 146 catches to surpass three-time All-Pro Keith Jackson for the most by a tight end in his first two NFL seasons.

Rest and recharge, taking advantage of the team's first extended break since Week 5.

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Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) throws against the Detroit Lions under pressure during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (26) celebrates with teammates after he ran for a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Detroit Lions fans celebrate a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game between the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/)

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell talks to the medial following an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) is sacked by Detroit Lions defensive end Za'Darius Smith (99) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Former Ohio Health Director Amy Acton, who became a household name in the state in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, is running for governor.

Acton, 58, a physician and public health expert who stood alongside Republican Gov. Mike DeWine for months during his daily coronavirus briefings, said people still stop her in the grocery store or at a restaurant to share their struggles — and she doesn't want to look away.

“I feel like I have a bond with Ohioans and a connection,” she said in an Associated Press interview. “You don’t go through what we’ve been through — trying to save 11.7 million people the way we did — and not have some special connection.”

Acton filed paperwork and launched her campaign Tuesday. She plans to run as a Democrat, which places her at an immediate disadvantage in a state that has turned solidly red in recent years.

While she has said before that serving in DeWine’s cabinet taught her much about how the office operates, on Tuesday she said she believes that Ohio's Republican leaders — who control all three branches of state government — are spending too much time fighting the culture wars and they're taking the state in the wrong direction.

“It’s not OK with me that Ohioans don’t live as long as people do in other states," she said. "It’s not OK with me to watch what used to be a top education system, state-of-the-art education system, begin to fall year after year after year. It’s not OK with me that our GDP is like 45th and our biggest export is Ohioans, is young people.”

Acton's entry into the race comes as Republicans Lt. Gov. Jon Husted and Attorney General Dave Yost already are positioning to run for the seat, which the 78-year-old DeWine must vacate next year due to term limits. But the landscape of the race is far from settled.

DeWine has yet to appoint a replacement to U.S. Sen. JD Vance, who will be inaugurated as Donald Trump's vice president Jan. 20. Though DeWine has long endorsed Husted as his favored successor, the lieutenant governor is now considered a leading contender as his pick for the Senate. That's after Husted and DeWine met with Trump and Vance last month at Mar-a-Lago, a trip first reported by WEWS-TV.

Giving Husted the job would create a political opening for Trump insider Vivek Ramaswamy to possibly make a gubernatorial run against Yost in the 2026 primary. Ramaswamy has said he would not seek the Senate opening — Ohio's third in as many years — right now, because he's busy heading Trump's Department of Government Efficiency effort with Elon Musk. DOGE is not an actual government department, but a private effort.

DeWine plucked Acton from Ohio State University, where she was an associate professor of public health, to lead the Ohio Department of Health in 2019. As the pandemic ramped up in early 2020, she was thrown into the state and national spotlight — becoming a beloved source of comfort to many viewers of the governor's daily news conferences.

For her service as health director, Acton earned the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile in COVID Courage Award, the Columbus Foundation’s Spirit of Columbus Award and Ohio State’s highest alumni honor, the Alumni Medalist Award.

But her position as the face of the DeWine administration's aggressive stance against the virus also earned Acton many enemies, among them Statehouse Republicans and average Ohioans who opposed pandemic restrictions.

During the crisis, Acton used the health director's broad emergency powers to halt the state's 2020 presidential primary, to temporarily close gyms and fitness centers around the state, and to impose stay-at-home orders as the administration tried to prevent COVID’s spread. Husted also took part in the administration's COVID response, but not to the extent that Acton did.

After a grueling period of public exposure, angry demonstrations, lawsuits and personal attacks, Acton resigned her state job in June 2020. DeWine sent her off fondly, describing her as a hero in a white coat. She stayed on as his chief health adviser until that August.

She said Tuesday that she recognizes she has not held elective office, but she feels she has the skills necessary to do the job.

“We know that I’m a doctor. I’m not a politician,” she said. “But I am a leader, and I tend to think of myself as more of a public servant and a problem solver.”

After leaving government, Acton joined the Columbus Foundation as a grants director with the title “vice president for Human:Kind.” She left that post after about six months to explore a run for U.S. Senate, ultimately deciding against joining the 2022 contest won by Vance. She later took on a job as director of the city of Columbus' Project L.O.V.E., an initiative aimed at encouraging early vaccinations in children.

Acton said she has spent all that time supporting candidates and causes that she believes in and carefully considering whether to enter politics.

“My challenge to whoever else wants to run in this race is it's time to put something bigger than ourselves at the top here,” she said. “So many of us have values in Ohio that we all hold dear. We have got to put the real problems, the day-to-day problems we all face on the table and put that first.”

FILE - Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton gives an update on the state's preparedness and education efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)