A late-season run has helped the Detroit Lions off the mat in a big way, and has also helped alleviate any of the fears Dan Campbell may have over his job security.
Campbell seemed safe from the beginning given the fact that the Lions were going through a major rebuilding process starting in 2021, but some of the coach’s decision making had been called into question as the losses had mounted on the season. Those facts in of themselves had some folks wondering if the coach could be one and done in Detroit.
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Simply put, that was never going to happen. Now that the Lions have found some major wins late in the season, it is even further from happening. That’s something that ESPN writer Eric Woodyard looked closer at in a recent power ranking segment on the site.
Woodyard and reporters for teams across the site not only power ranked their squads, but the current status of a potential hot seat for every single coach. While the Lions didn’t have the highest rank, Campbell’s seat was rated to be very cool at this point in time of the 2021 season.
As for why, Woodyard wrote that the team’s players and front office seems to love Campbell as he works through a rebuild with some of the best intangibles on his side. In the end, that’s enough to mean the coach shouldn’t have to worry about his job status at all moving forward the rest of the season and offseason.
It’s not a surprise whatsoever that Campbell’s seat would be freezing cold, even though the Lions are poised to finish the 2021 season with a terrible record.
Campbell Was Never on Hot Seat Despite Losses
Typically, coaches that are on a warm seat are seeing their team limp to the finish line of a season. Quite exactly the opposite is true with the Lions. The team has been charging to the finish line this year and Campbell has been a big reason why the Lions have played as well as they have. The team’s offense has sparked a turnaround after Campbell took over much of the play calling duties, with Jared Goff throwing for 898 yards and 9 touchdowns in the last four weeks. More than that, the players are fighting for Campbell without quitting on the field, and have spoken about what a solid locker room culture the team has. That’s distinctly different than previous years on the field and off.
With two wins and a tie over the second half of the season and counting, it isn’t surprising to see the Lions not in a rush to put Campbell on the hot seat.
Lions Finishing 2021 Season Strong
Despite folks calling for Campbell’s dismissal or wondering about the coach’s future most of the early portion of the season, the Lions were never likely to fire their first-year head coach no matter how big an embarrassment some of their earlier losses looked to be. Campbell has a five-year contract and the team knows the situation is a rebuild for the Lions in a big way. As a result, it would have been stunning if the team were to make a panic move and fire Campbell no matter how the season finished or what plays out. The team is more likely to stick with Campbell now and try to build around him for the future. That was even more the case after a few recent big wins have tilted things firmly in Campbell’s direction for the future.
From here on out, the focus will be getting Campbell enough support so that the coach can have the most solid 2022 season as possible.
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