Getty Dan Campbell during a training camp interview in 2022.
The Detroit Lions have stumbled out of the blocks to a 1-4 start this season, and a big brunt of the responsibility for that falls on Dan Campbell.
Detroit’s head coach has been erratic with the decision making this year, and may have cost his team a shot at two more wins this season as a result. He’s far from a finished product as a head coach, and that could be costing his team in the short and long-term.
Heavy NFL insider Matt Lombardo is beginning to question whether or not Campbell is the man for the job in Detroit. After watching Campbell’s team get waxed 29-0 by New England, Campbell was proclaimed by Lombardo as a coach who should be on the clock in a Week 5 recap. The reason? A lack of wins and development.
“The only thing that creates a winning culture is winning. Campbell doesn’t seem to have a clue how to win. There is plenty of young talent on the Lions’ roster, on both sides of the football, it just may take a new voice to maximize it,” Lombardo wrote in-part in his recap.
The rest of the way, Campbell has a lot to prove, or critiques like this will continue. Thus far, Campbell is 9-23-1 as a head coach in the NFL. That’s not a lot of winning, no matter the talent he is working with. Detroit’s defense is also historically horrible.
Add it all up and all eyes figure to be on Detroit in the second-half of the season to see if a turnaround can be achieved.
Campbell Deserves Heat for Poor Decisions
During games this season, Detroit’s coach has shown a poor grasp of the fundamentals and flow of the game. In Week 3, Campbell’s gaffe on a 54 yard field goal call sparked a Minnesota win. Once again in Week 5, a big mistake was made by the boss.
A key fourth and nine right before halftime could have kept the Lions close or in the game. Instead of punting or settling for a long field goal, Campbell elected to go, and the play backfired in a big way. A strip-sack netted the Patriots a momentum shifting score.
It’s not a stretch to say that this was the play of the game for both teams. After this point, momentum was a runaway train for the Patriots, and they would go on to rack up more big plays and points.
4th down. Dan Campbell cements his reputation as a hardo
So far, it seems as if Campbell is coaching with his ego rather than smarts. The coach may not agree with that assessment, but it could be true. If that continues, he deserves all the blame that comes his way, especially if it keeps costing the Lions in the win column.
Assessing Campbell’s Lions’ Career
Though the record has yet to match the hype, the Lions were one of the toughest teams in the league during the 2021 season, even if it did not translate into immediate wins.
Detroit was in nearly every game that was played and won three. They managed to do this in spite of multiple players being lost due to injury as well as illness outbreaks late in the season. In the end, it was an obvious testament to the toughness Campbell preached about on his first day.
Offensively and defensively, there is much to work out with the roster in terms of improvements and depth. Campbell is an aggressive coach on fourth-down, and looks desperate to be an innovator in terms of decision making in those moments. Campbell has also rolled the dice appropriately with a multitude of fake punts and onside kicks. When he took over play calling, the offense seemed to improve in a tangible way, especially with Ben Johnson.
Overall, 2021 was a solid start for Campbell as it relates to laying a foundation. Anyone questioning his program for their stalled momentum in 2022 is not wrong to do so, and Campbell will need a solid second half to hush more criticism in the weeks ahead.
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