There were no cigars in the Detroit Lions’ locker room.

There was no champagne after the team’s first playoff win since 1992.

Sure, there were smiles and happiness and maybe even a sense of relief after the Lions beat the Los Angeles Rams, 24-23, on Sunday night — the Lions first-ever playoff game at Ford Field and first ever victory in the wild card round.

But there was no sense of satisfaction or contentment.

I got one distinct feeling walking through the locker room, talking to several players:

This is not the apex. This is not the ending.

This is just the first step.

“We got to finish the drill,” C.J. Gardner-Johnson said. “You can't get content with getting out of the first round.”

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If you wondered what has changed with the Lions, that one quote sums it up.

“We're doing things that haven't been done in a while,” Amon-Ra St. Brown said, in one of the bigger understatements of the night. “But we got to keep going. Celebrate today but move on tomorrow.”

It’s entirely different for the fans, of course.

For this long-suffering fan base, for generations who have celebrated just once a year — during the draft — this night was monumental. This was historic and magical and wild and fun as heck. Ford Field went absolutely bonkers — people were screaming and chanting and dancing — and that was before the game. Eminem was on the videoboard — “Let’s go!” — and fireworks were shooting off inside Ford Field — OK, that was seriously cool — and the noise was deafening.

It was like a volcano went off, an explosion of frustration leaving the Motor City, ending a lifetime of suffering and waiting and hoping and dreaming.

But that’s the fans' perspective.

Not the players.

“We're not done,” Jack Campbell said. “That was just a start. Just take it one game at a time and keep pushing this thing.”

Campbell, of course, is a rookie.

There is no way he can fully appreciate what this fan base has gone through, and that’s fine.

This team is not satisfied.

Because that’s not a part of their DNA.

“Hats off to the coaching staff for just finding guys who fit a mold,” Campbell said. “We might not be the flashiest, we might not be just that first pick in the litter. But we're damn mutts. And we just go out there and play and I'm just so proud to be a part of an organization like this.”

Think about that for a second.

He just won the first playoff game of his life. He’s about to play in his second at Ford Field, and he’s calling himself a mutt.

I mean, I love it.

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Hold the gravy

For many fans, anything beyond this point is gravy.

Because this team has already accomplished what many hoped.

Win the NFC North: Check.

Get a home playoff game: Check.

Wipe away decades of playoff disappointment and actually win a playoff game for the first time in forever. Check.

Next?

Hmm.

I’m not sure many fans ever considered what comes next.

“I think it's surprisingly y'all, but it's not surprising me,” Gardner-Johnson said to a cluster of reporters. “I've been on winning football teams before. I'm a six-year vet. I've seen a lot of ball. This team has what it takes to be dominant for the next couple of years, with the players we have, with the guys we got in front office that's helping us build it."

But those fans sure helped this team

The players didn’t talk much about the enormity of this moment.

They didn’t talk about the decades of futility, the decades of watching the playoffs from a couch. Because most of them haven’t been alive that long.

No. They talked about the atmosphere.

“It was the coolest game atmosphere I've ever been a part of my life," center Frank Ragnow said. “I just got to get back to work taking care of his body and get ready to roll tomorrow.”

Whoops. There he goes. Talking about the next game.

That’s how it is with these players.

But all of that fan energy has energized this team.

“Man, that was – that is arguably the best environment I’ve ever been in,” coach Dan Campbell said. “That was absolutely electric, and I think what’s crazy is I was coming down for pre-game warmup and you could just feel it. It was humming. The building was humming, and I swear you could feel the electricity down the tunnel from where I was coming down, and it only just grew from there. So, our fans showed up in a big way. That was clearly — and I thought for two years now that building’s been rocking. It was different today. That was a whole other level. It’s what the playoffs are all about. So, our fans showed up in a big way. They helped us win this game.”

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The fans have turned Ford Field into a tremendous home-field advantage. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford had to call an early timeout because it was so loud.

And yes, the Rams needed that timeout at the end, but the Lions simply knelt for the win.

“I don’t even know if I’m really going to understand all of it until I have time to just sit back, season’s truly over and look back on it,” Dan Campbell said. “Because I guess I’m just — man, believe me I’m so thrilled. I’m excited we got our first playoff win, and I’m happy for those coaches and those players who were all a part of it. To be able to do something that’s greater than yourself, it takes everybody around you doing their job and doing it on a high level and you’ve got to be able to trust them. It’s special, it’s different than anything, man. And it’s why you do what we do. It’s not the money, it’s about the competition, it’s about the comradery, and to be the best of the best collectively. So, I know this, we were fighting for the two seed to get another home game, and we got another home game. So it’s awesome and we had to earn that and we earned that with a win today.”

So while the fans savor this.

And some, I’m sure will even say: anything beyond this is house money.

That's all fine.

But the Lions are gonna get back to work.

Because that’s what mutts do — and I mean that in the most respectful way.

To quote that great philosopher, Gardner-Johnson: “We got to finish the drill.”

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff.

To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' approach after long-awaited playoff win: 'We're not done'