KNEECAPS:
On January 20th, 2021 the Detroit Lions hired one of their former tight ends as their new head coach. The team had been a “poverty franchise” for decades and needed someone to come in and change the culture. In his introductory press conference, the new coach gave a legendary quote, which most definitely was a sign that he wasn’t like anybody else: "We're gonna kick you in the teeth, and when you punch us back we're gonna smile at you, and when you knock us down we're going to get up, and on the way, we're going to bite a kneecap off. We're going to stand up, and it's going to take two more shots to knock us down.”
With that said, let’s take a look at the effect Dan Campbell has had on the Detroit Lions.
LIONS’ BACKGROUND:
Before hiring Dan Campbell, the Lions had won 14 games, over three years. Things were set to only go downhill in Detroit, as their franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford neared the end of his contract. Even with stars like Stafford, Calvin Johnson, and Barry Sanders, the Lions hadn’t won a playoff game since 1991, what chance did they have without them? The team hit a new low in the 2020 season when they had the worst defense in the entire NFL in both points allowed and yards. After the miserable season finally came to an end, the front office decided to throw up one last hail mary, that’s where Dan Campbell comes in.
DAN CAMPBELL’S BACKGROUND:
Dan Campbell went to college at Texas A&M and was drafted in the third round by the New York Giants. Campbell played 4 years in New York, 3 years for the Dallas Cowboys, and finally 3 years for the Detroit Lions, before hanging up the cleats following an odd stint with the Saints.
Campbell wasn’t a standout player, breaking 300 yards in only one out of ten seasons, therefore it came as a surprise when the Miami Dolphins added him to their coaching staff in 2010. Over the next few years, Campbell worked up the ranks in the Dolphins’ staff and was eventually named the interim head coach in 2015 when the team fired Joe Philbin, the man who brought Campbell on in the first place. Unfortunately, after Campbell led Miami to an unimpressive 5W-7L record, management decided that Campbell wasn’t cut out for a head coaching job and moved on to “offensive guru” Adam Gase.
After his failed tenure in Miami, Campbell took an assistant job under his old friend, Sean Payton in New Orleans. The decision to take a job with the Saints implied that Campbell submitted to the Dolphins’ assessment that he wasn’t head coach material, after all, Sean Payton wasn’t leaving New Orleans anytime soon and Campbell had no intentions of driving his mentor out of town. Yet, five years later, one team was desperate enough to give a shot to the man who was deemed “not head coach material”.
DAN CAMPBELL’S BOLD START:
After accepting the job in Detroit, the first fire Campbell was asked to put out was the Matthew Stafford contract negotiations. Campbell stared adversity in the eye and practically said “There’s no Stafford contract crisis in Detroit if Stafford doesn’t play for Detroit” and less than two weeks after being hired, traded away his best player. Between his electric press conference and his bold trade, Campbell's message was very clear: “We’re doing things my way.”
Under quarterback Jared Goff, Campbell’s Lions failed to pick up their first win of the 2021 season until week 13. Yet, there were signs of light at the end of the tunnel as the Lions went 3W-3L over their final six games.
Due to their abysmal 3W-13L-1T record, Detroit held the 2nd overall pick in the upcoming draft. Since there’s no way to turn a 3-win quarterback into a franchise quarterback, leading up to the draft, the debate in the media surrounded whether Detroit would trade down a couple of picks to select their new quarterback or if they would reach for a quarterback at 2 even though the class was very weak. But the media forgot Dan Campbell’s first message, “We’re doing things my way.” Not only did Campbell select defensive end Aiden Hutchinson with the second pick, but Campbell didn’t select a quarterback with any of his seven picks, implying that he intended to roll with Goff for the near future.
The Detroit Lions started their 2022 season 1W-6L. With Campbell’s record at the helm now 9W-26L-1T, the rough start raised a handful of questions: Did Dan Campbell make a horrible mistake by throwing away a perfect opportunity to draft a new quarterback? Is Dan Campbell’s aggressive decision-making holding back the Lions? Were the Dolphins right regarding Campbell not being head coach material?
DAN CAMPBELL STARTS BITING SOME KNEECAPS:
With Campbell’s job on the line, Detroit hosted a week matchup against the Green Bay Packers. Campbell managed to scrape out an ugly 15-9 divisional win. Then followed it up with another one in Chicago the next week. Then went to the Big Apple and beat his original team, the New York Giants. In week 12, the red-hot Buffalo Bills came to town, expecting to route the bottom-feeding Lions in a Thanksgiving day matchup. The Lions fought the Bills blow for blow and even possessed a 22-19 lead in the fourth quarter before losing the nail-biter on a walk-off field goal. Dan Campbell didn’t come away with the win but he did show the world that they might not want to cast their final vote on DC just yet. The Lions went on to win four of their next five matchups, keeping their slim playoff hopes alive heading into the final week of the season.
To beat out the Seattle Seahawks and their division foes, the Green Bay Packers for the final wildcard spot the Lions needed two things to happen: 1. The Seahawks lose in the early window. 2. The Lions beat the Packers on Sunday night football. Unfortunately, the Seahawks won, making the Lions-Packers game only relevant for the Packers. The Lions could’ve rolled over and moved onto the off-season, but Dan Campbell wanted to make a statement: “The Detroit Lions fight until the very end!” Campbell, Goff, and the Lions went out there and got a hard-fought 20-16 win to end the Packers’ season along with Aaron Rodgers’s time in Green Bay.
Due to their 8W-2L finish to 2022, the Lions had high hopes for 2023 and made an effort to bolster their roster even more in the off-season by acquiring defensive backs Cameron Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley, and CJ Gardner-Johnson. Then the 2023 draft came around. Throughout the draft, the Lions made a couple of brow-raising moves yet somehow seemed to get a handful of great players, including running back Jahmyr Gibbs, defensive back Brian Branch, linebacker Jack Campbell, Tight end Sam LaPorta, and intriguing quarterback prospect Hendon Hooker. Despite seeming to have reached for a few guys they still managed to get a lot of talent, but nobody questioned it anymore, it was the Dan Campbell way.
DAN CAMPBELL’S REVENGE TOUR:
Following the strong second half of 2022, and their eventful offseason, the Lions attracted a lot of hype before the 2023 season. Said hype was tested immediately as the Lions were tasked to face the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night football to kick off the season. Campbell led the Lions into Arrowhead and by taking down the champs 21-20, Campbell made his third statement: “Dan Campbell and the Lions have arrived and are here to stay!”
The Lions stayed hot, winning five of their next seven games, before a big week 10 matchup in Los Angeles. Due to a couple of injuries in the Detroit secondary, the Chargers’ star quarterback Justin Herbert, lit up Campbell’s defense for 323 yards and 4 touchdowns. It was up to the Lions’ quarterback, Jared Goff to match it. The same Jared Goff who only won three games in 2021 and was counted out by the media. The new and improved Jared Goff answered the bell in a big way, throwing for 333 yards, and two touchdowns, leading a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter and outdueling Herbert by leading the Lions to a 41-38 win. After three years under Dan Campbell, Jared Goff is a completely new player.
WILL DAN CAMPBELL WIN IT ALL?
Campbell’s Lions currently sit at 7W-2L, one game out of the top seed in the NFC, and due to the strength of schedule, I believe the Lions will leapfrog the Eagles. However, the way Herbert toyed with their defense concerns me. The Lions won’t get CJ Gardner-Johnson back from his torn pec injury until next season and in the playoffs, they will have to face better offenses than the Chargers. Detroit was able to lean on Jared Goff and star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to fight back against Los Angeles but the Los Angeles defense is nothing compared to the Eagles’ and 49ers’ units whom the Lions will see in the playoffs.
Goff and St. Brown are both great but neither are top-tier players at their positions. Yet the winning window is only starting for Campbell’s team. Next season they should have a healthy secondary. Additionally, the team is scheduled to cut over 23 million dollars in dead cap after this season, along with their solid draft capital, the Lions should be more than capable of adding the talent required in their passing defense and receiving corps to push the team over the top.
Do not forget that even if all goes wrong, the Lions have a solid plan B in Hendon Hooker. Until he tore his ACL, Hooker was in the Heisman conversation in his final season at Tennesse. Hendon Hooker is a 6ft3, mobile quarterback with a cannon of an arm. The reasons Hooker fell to the third round were his inability to prove himself in front of scouts during the predraft process due to his torn ACL, along with concerns about how different his offense at Tennesse was to an NFL system. Even though those are valid concerns, Hooker was outstanding last year, with his prospect grade of 6.23, I’m excited to see what Dan Cambell can do with him. After all, if Cambell can turn Jared Goff from a 3-win quarterback to a top-10 guy, he should be able to do plenty with the kid who threw for 385 yards and 5 touchdowns against Nick Saban's defense on his way to taking down Alabama.
In conclusion, I don’t believe the Lions are capable of taking down the top teams in the playoffs this year, yet I fully believe that Dan Campbell will be the coach to bring the city of Detroit their first Lombardi trophy. When Dan Campbell is around, no kneecaps are safe.
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