Getty Dan Campbell on the field during the Lions game against Minnesota.
The Detroit Lions lost another heartbreaker of a game to the Minnesota Vikings 19-17, and disappointment is clearly setting in for plenty on the team.
At times, it feels as if the Lions are living in a simulation, where defeats and frustrations follow a usual pattern. That played out again when Detroit rallied, took a late lead with 37 seconds on the clock and proceeded to fail at stopping the Vikings from moving the ball. Dan Campbell was clearly feeling the frustration after the game in a bigger way than usual.
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After the game, Campbell was emotional when speaking to the media, shedding a few tears. As captured by Fox 2 Sports on Twitter, the coach who so often wears his heart on his sleeve was bearing his soul once more, this time with some tears.
An emotional Dan Campbell after another heartbreaking #Lions loss:
“When you see your players give all that hey have and you lose that way, it’s tough. You don’y want that for them. But we’ll be better for it. There again, credit Minnesota but we made the one mistake that cost us. So, ultimately, we didn’t do enough to win. And I love the fight they have in them, and I love their grit.”
Lions fans will appreciate this sentiment and emotion from their coach. Truthfully, he gets it and shows as much excitement and disappointment as the average fan.
Campbell Explains Final Drive Defense
If there was a problem for the Lions, it revolved around the Lions perhaps not rushing more than three on the final drive. As Campbell pointed out to the media afterward, however, the Vikings managed to make a tough field goal, and regardless of the call, they deserve credit for that.
“You’re going to have some windows in there, certainly we don’t want to give up as much as we did. They made a couple plays and got down there,” he said. “Until I can get my eyes wrapped on it and really digest it, unfortunately or fortunately, however you want to look at it, at the end of the day that still wasn’t an easy kick. It’s not like that was a chip shot. They made it, they got into position. Two timeouts helped them with that much. With that much time with two timeouts you had a lot more time than you think you did.”
The Vikings needed only a handful of plays to get into field goal range and Greg Joseph hit a 54 yarder after coming up short earlier on a 49 yard attempt.
Campbell Doesn’t Think Lions Far Away
The Lions haven’t been able to get a win under their belt so far in the young season and the frustration goes on. Even though that’s been the case, the Lions have managed to look serviceable in all of their games, and continue to be right there in terms of potentially winning the games.That was the case again in Week 5 after it played out in Week 4.
That’s a fact that isn’t lost on head coach Campbell. As Campbell said when speaking with the media on Wednesday, October 6, he believes the team was once again right there when it comes to competing in games. Week 4 against the Chicago Bears, Campbell admitted that the team was within striking distance once again to a win.
“0-4 stings but at the same time, we’re not as far away as it appears to be,” Campbell told the media. “I just bring it up again. We were two plays away last week, you could argue we were two plays away from winning that game. And that’s nothing against Chicago, they played well. It’s a credit to them. We are not as far away as it appears to be.”
The Lions have struggled with consistency on both sides of the ball, but the work that is getting done this season even in losses is important to the future of the team as Campbell said, as the staff is figuring out who they an trust while getting players some key experience.
“It’s about building our foundation,” Campbell said. “It’s about finding those guys that we can win with. Not just now, and how quickly can they help us win now, but down the road. You can’t ever lose sight of that. With that, as long as guys are coming back in to work and putting their best foot forward and they’re a sponge to knowledge, and they want to get better, they want to help, they want to win, they want to contribute. They’re not anchors to our program, they’re pulling us down and they’re negative, they’re always searching for an answer, it’s somebody else’s fault. I feel like we’ve done a pretty good job, we don’t have that around here.”
The Lions will keep fighting to see if they can break their win drought. Obviously, they keep making their coach proud.
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Dan Campbell Deeply Emotional After Lions Loss: ‘It’s Tough’