The Detroit Lions doubled down on a position that the rest of the NFL had considered nearly obsolete when they signed four-year veteran running back David Montgomery and selected running back Jahmyr Gibbs with the 12th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft in the span of one and a half months during the offseason. But Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell, the general manager and head coach of the Lions, must have known something that the rest of us didn’t.

The Lions have won 22 of 28 regular season games since this duo—later known as Sonic and Knuckles—was assembled, and their offensive is regarded as one of the finest in the league. The Lions required a dominant back tandem in order to develop into the kind of smashmouth football team that head coach Campbell represents in Detroit, even though quarterback Jared Goff, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson also deserve a lot of credit in this regard.

As it happens, since they started dating, David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs have done just that. Furthermore, their goal is still to win the Lombardi Trophy in the Motor City for the first time, even as they continue to set new NFL marks, such as being the first running back tandem in NFL history to each score 10 rushing touchdowns in consecutive seasons.

Gibbs repeated his teammate’s remarks.

“First and foremost, we want the Super Bowl, and if we win that, I believe everything else will follow.”

In terms of rushing yards, Detroit is currently in fourth place after finishing fifth in 2023. And looking at the numbers, it’s clear that the Lions can always count on a new back to finish games because Gibbs and Montgomery are dividing the workload nearly evenly.