The Detroit Lions open the NFC playoffs on Saturday night seeking to get one game farther than they did last season, when the San Francisco 49ers ended their season in the NFC Championship Game.

“The vibes are immaculate,” Detroit defensive back Brian Branch said during an appearance on NFL Network’s “The Insiders.” “I feel like everyone’s on the same page here, and we hungry more than ever. We’ve done been in this moment before, and this time we’re trying to finish it.”

The Lions have never played in the Super Bowl. Last season’s 34-31 loss to the 49ers came in Detroit’s first NFC Championship Game appearance since the 1991 season. The Lions’ most recent NFL championship game in 1957, nine years before the first Super Bowl.

But Detroit posted the best record in franchise history at 15-2 in the regular season in 2024 and, according to BetMGM, have the shortest odds to win Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9.

“We know it’s all rat poison,” Branch said. “We don’t really pay attention to the outside noise. We know what we’re capable of doing. We just want to prove it to ourselves that who we are, that’s who we are, and I feel like we don’t pay attention to the outside noise at all.”

The Lions play the Washington Commanders at 7 p.m. CST Saturday at Ford Field in Detroit. FOX will televise the game.

As with the Lions last year, Washington most recently played in the NFC Championship Game in the 1991 season. The Commanders hadn’t won a playoff game in 19 years until defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-20 on Sunday after a 12-5 regular-season showing.

Washington’s turnaround has been sparked by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. He crossed paths with Branch in the SEC, when LSU edged Alabama 32-31 in overtime on Nov. 5, 2022.

Daniels completed 22-of-32 passes for 182 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions and ran 18 times for 95 yards and one touchdown. Daniels scored on a 25-yard run, then completed a 2-point conversion pass to win the game.

Branch made nine tackles and broke up one pass for the Crimson Tide in the game.

“I played him in college,” Branch said. “He’s an exceptional quarterback. It kind of reminds me of Lamar (Jackson), just how he moves and stuff. But to me, that’s really the game plan – shrinking the pocket on him and making him make those throws.”

Despite their strong season, the Lions didn’t secure the top seed in the NFC playoff field until the final game of the NFL’s regular season. Detroit defeated the Minnesota Vikings 31-9 on Jan. 5 to gain the No. 1 seed and the accompanying first-round bye.

“I feel like our confidence level is at an all-time high right now,” Branch said. “We played a very great offense two weeks ago. They had very good receivers. I feel like us DBs, our secondary, we’re going into this game with extreme confidence, and I feel like that’s what we need going into the playoffs, and I feel like that’s going to be on our side, that’s going to help us out moving on.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.