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The Detroit Lions lost a 17-point lead, then lost the NFC Championship on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers. Head coach Dan Campbell had a notable hand in the defeat with a pair of polarizing fourth-down decisions. And he’s not hiding from the fact his team might not be back, telling players after Sunday’s collapse that “this may have been our only shot” to reach the Super Bowl.
“Sometimes you can only say so much,” Campbell told reporters after the Lions’ 34-31 loss. “(Sometimes) you gotta live it, unfortunately. You gotta get your heart ripped out, which we did. And it’s a lesson learned. And look, I told those guys, ‘This may have been our only shot.’ Do I think that? No. Do I believe that? No. However, I know how hard it is to get here. I am well aware. It’s gonna be twice as hard to get back to this point next year.”
Campbell went on to argue that it’s “irrelevant” how much the Lions may improve this offseason, because “everybody in our division’s gonna be loaded back up,” and “everybody’s gonna want a piece” of their ascending team. It’s an unusually transparent remark from a head coach hours removed from such a monumental game, which nearly sent Detroit to its first-ever Super Bowl appearance.
If Lions fans can’t take solace in the fact Campbell’s trademark aggression was a major factor in the club’s promising-turned-deflating finish (and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere), they can perhaps restore hope — and counter the notion that 2023 was their peak — by remembering the growth of the organization under the current regime’s watch. After finishing 3-13-1 back in 2021, the first season with Campbell at head coach and Brad Holmes at general manager, the Lions have improved to 9-8 and 12-5 in back-to-back years.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell surprisingly admitted he told his team they may have blown their ‘only shot’ at making it to the Super Bowl, following Sunday’s embarrassing loss.
Detroit suffered a heartbreaking 34-31 defeat to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game after blowing a 17-point lead in the second half.
‘I told those guys, this may have been our only shot,’ Campbell said after the game. ‘Do I think that? No. Do I believe that? No.
‘However, I know how hard it is to get here. I’m well aware. It’s going to be twice as hard to get to this point next year as it was this year. That’s the reality. And if we don’t have the same hunger and the same work, this is a whole ‘nother thing.’
The Lions had not won a playoff game for an astounding 30 years before this year’s postseason run that by all means should have culminated in a trip to the Super Bowl.
‘However, I know how hard it is to get here. I’m well aware. It’s going to be twice as hard to get to this point next year as it was this year. That’s the reality. And if we don’t have the same hunger and the same work, this is a whole ‘nother thing.’
The Lions had not won a playoff game for an astounding 30 years before this year’s postseason run that by all means should have culminated in a trip to the Super Bowl.
‘Once we get to the offseason, we got no shot of getting back here,’ Campbell said. ‘I don’t care how much better we get or what we add or what we draft.
‘It’s irrelevant. It’s going to be tough. Everybody in our division’s going to be loaded back up and you’re not hiding from anybody anymore. Everybody’s going to want a piece of you.’
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Back during Campbell’s first season in charge of the Lions in 2021 the team finished with a 3-13-1 record. Fast forward to the present and Detroit finished the regular season with a 12-5 record.
They went on to beat the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before blowing what many thought would be an unsurmountable lead against the 49ers.
One thing that Campbell and the Lions will have going for them as they try to make up for their NFC Championship collapse, however, is stability at the quarterback position.
Before the loss to San Francisco reports had emerged that the team was set to begin discussions on a new deal with Jared Goff, who is currently set to enter the final year of his contract in 2024.
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