DETROIT — What a night for the Detroit Lions.

They completed the in-season sweep of the hated Green Bay Packers, with wins over their division rival in six out of the last seven meetings. The Lions also clinched a spot in the postseason, broke the 90-year franchise record for longest winning streak (11) and strengthened their grip on the No. 1 seed.

Here are three things we learned from Thursday’s win:

Doubt these Lions at your own peril. They are a special team that reeks of destiny

Listen, this headline and the first thing we learned this week is also a reminder for yours truly. That’s important to note. With all the injuries, four games played in 18 days and a stout Packers squad coming to town against a makeshift defense? I thought this would be where the Lions would drop a close one.

My official MLive prediction was Packers 24, Lions 20.

That’s on me.

I already thought this Lions team was special, different than any other before in franchise history and a legit Super Bowl contender. But the depths of their resiliency, the power of their coaching staff, and the pieces put together on this fast-track rebuild appear to have no bounds. Doubt them at your own risk.

They just went toe-to-toe with a playoff contender, took every shot in the middle of the ring, and kept coming back until delivering the final blow. The offense did everything it needed to do to control the game’s pace, with Jared Goff operating like Steve Nash, hitting everyone for buckets in this win. The Lions tied an NFL record with six players catching at least five passes against the Packers.

And Dan Campbell stayed true to form by hitting four fourth-down conversions on five gutsy tries.

Detroit’s defense wasn’t just banged up. It was missing four of its top five linebackers from the start of the season, not to mention DJ Reader, Josh Paschal and Levi Onwuzurike on a defensive line already decimated by injured reserve.

Oh, and they lost Alim McNeill at some point to a brain injury, weathering that storm to rally the troops for one last stop. The Lions forced a field goal from the Packers, keeping them out of the end zone in a crucial late trip to the red zone.

That hold gave the offense a chance to play the clock on the quest to get kicker Jake Bates another game-winning field goal at the buzzer. It took a couple of third-down conversions, surviving a penalty and one last fourth-down gamble to do that. But here they are, 12-1, winners of 11 straight to break a team record that had stood since 1934, clinching a playoff spot in early December.

Don’t lose sight of how special this team is. I’ll take my own advice next time out.

“I told you you’d never forget this game. You will never forget this (expletive) game,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell told his team in a must-watch locker room speech. “We don’t have to talk about how tough we are. We don’t have to talk about how resilient we are. We (expletive) live it, man. We been living it. Where’s our (expletive) defense at? Offense, that’s a way to step up, man. Guys, I am so freaking proud of you, man. That’s a way to show up.

“You talk about pressure? We live in pressure. That’s where we freaking thrive. You did it again. You (expletive) did it again. It doesn’t matter who’s playing for us. It doesn’t matter what’s going on. You always find a way to win. That’s what (expletive) champions do. This is not happenstance, man. This doesn’t just (expletive) happen. This has been in the making, men. It’s been in the making. We are all supposed to be here together, man. We’re destined for this.”

Dan Campbell should be the NFL’s coach of the year

It’s hard to make an argument for a team delivering on high expectations concerning NFL coach of the year.

But how the Lions have done it and how they have taken on the identity of their head coach is rare. So many teams talk about wanting to rebuild a culture and make everything about that. But so few actually do it like these Lions have, and their head coach is the current favorite to take home the award from oddsmakers.

Campbell regularly transforms coach speak and cliches into reality. He has also mastered the art of staying true to what he believes is best for his team, no matter the pressure or outside voices.

The Lions are 12-1. They clinched a playoff spot in the first week of December after sweeping the hated Packers. After watching their 10-point halftime lead vanish in the blink of an eye, they planted their feet in the ground and held on for dear life as Campbell led them to glory with gutsy decision after gutsy decision.

Even after giving the ball away deep in their own territory after a failed fourth-down call in the second half, Campbell never wavered in his decision-making.

With the Lions in field-goal range, facing a late fourth-and-short, Campbell rolled the dice, realizing the Packers were out of timeouts. He knew the risks associated. But he also knew his makeshift defense had given a ton just to put them in this spot, and Campbell didn’t want Green Bay to get another shot.

So, he dialed up another fourth-down attempt, and even with Jared Goff tripping over his own lineman, he was able to hand the ball off to David Montgomery, who did the rest. Bates finished the job. Campbell’s gambles might have surprised some, but they were the deciding factor in this one.

“You’d love to say that if you’re going to do that, you’re going to convert every one of them, but that’s not the reality,” Campbell said when asked by MLive about his conviction in those moments. “It doesn’t always work that way. So, you know you’re taking a high level of risk. There is risk with it, but I felt like with our guys, it wouldn’t be as big of a risk as it may appear to be.”

Campbell leaned on his stars and kept the ball out of Jordan Love’s hands. He’s so much more than a motivator or former player — he’s a football genius.

Za’Darius Smith is a perfect fit

Za’Darius Smith fits this locker room and Aaron Glenn’s defense so well that it feels like he’s always been here. It’s yet another comparison to the championship-swinging Rasheed Wallace acquisition by the Detroit Pistons back in the day.

Smith plays and carries himself with an unrelenting fire that lifts those around him to another level. The veteran pass rusher opened the game with a sack on the first snap by the Packers, letting the world know this makeshift defense wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

The 32-year-old has a sack in three of his first four games since coming over at the trade deadline. He’s landed three sacks in that span, with seven quarterback hits to lift this team’s pass rush.

Smith has 47 pressures and eight sacks this year between Cleveland and Detroit. On a night and postgame coverage where most of the focus has been on what the Lions were without, it’s important to remember what they have in Smith and Co.

“Yeah, he’s added a lot — energy — energy and understanding of where we’re at in our season and what we’re looking for,” Goff said of Smith. “He brings that energy every day. He’s obviously such a great player on the field physically, but I think emotionally, and his juice daily brings something to that defense.”

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