DETROIT, MI - OCTOBER 25: Eric Ebron #85 of the Detroit Lions celebrates a first quarter touchdown agains the Minnesota Vikings during an NFL game at Ford Field on October 25, 2015 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Dave Reginek/Getty Images)

By: Will Burchfield

@burchie_kid

Eric Ebron is known for his sometimes-offbeat commentary.

On Monday, in his first meeting with reporters since the Lions returned from their bye week, Ebron brought up the Mayans while talking about Detroit’s upcoming schedule.

“We still gotta play Jacksonville, tough team. We gotta play Minnesota again coming off a short week, tough team. So we’re not taking anything for granted. Good for where we are, good for the standings, good for the people who invented it – the Mayans, the whoever – but we gotta do this,” Ebron said.

Wait, the Mayans?

“The Mayans invented everything. We took stuff from them,” Ebron continued, adding that he learned more about the ancient civilization during an exotic vacation he took over the offseason. “They were telling me all the stuff the Mayans done did. We stole everything from them.”

It was the Lions who stole a win from the Minnesota Vikings in Week 9, tying the game as time expired and then winning in overtime. That victory, coupled with losses by the Vikings and the Green Bay Packers in back-to-back weeks, thrust the Lions into first place in the NFC North.

But Ebron said the team’s mindset hasn’t changed.

“Just a few weeks ago, you guys were in here talking about, ‘We’re 1-3, where do we go from here?’ And now we’re sitting where we’re sitting and now you guys want to talk about first place. We just want to play football. That’s all we’re going to do, that’s all we came here to do,” Ebron said.

Throughout the season, and particularly of late, Jim Caldwell has stressed that the Lions aren’t worried about the teams around them.

“We have a narrow focus,” the coach likes to say.

Ebron’s, in that case, is a bit wider.

“Who’s not going to look at the standings? You’re a football player. We all sat there and watched the Minnesota (game). I was tweeting about it,” Ebron said, referring to the Vikings’ loss to the Washington Redskins on Sunday. “You know what I’m saying?

“We all know how it benefits us but we’re not worried about it. We don’t care for it. Thankful for the Redskins, but we still gotta do our job at the end of the day. We still gotta win, we still gotta produce, we still gotta go out there and play football.”