The Lions fell short of their goal last season, but safety Brian Branch believes their experience in 2024 sets them up well for success in 2025.

Branch made the Pro Bowl after playing in 16 regular season games and that availability made him an outlier on the team’s defense. Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, linebacker Alex Anzalone, defensive tackle Alim McNeill and several other defensive players missed time with injuries that left the team scrambling to fill out the unit at times.

The group still played well enough for the Lions to earn the top seed and Branch said going through those tribulations has left the unit feeling more confident about the future.

“We went through the ups and downs,” Branch said to Rainer Sabin of the Detroit Free Press. “We fought together in tough games. We have been in a game where it depended on us to win. So, it just makes everybody buy in. Once you have a group that has bought in and has gone through trials and tribulations, we feel invincible.”

Branch said he feels “we’re better than last year” and the test of that will come when we find out if their stay in the playoffs lasts longer than one game this time around.