ALLEN PARK — Dan Campbell doesn’t care what the outside world is saying about the Detroit Lions’ 27-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
He’s motivated by the act of defeat itself.
“What fuels my tank is losing,” Campbell said Wednesday.
The Lions’ loss would have been digestible had either side of the ball put together a strong performance, but the biggest problem — and why many are running with the notion that the walls are closing in — is that the things that befell Detroit in Week 1 were exactly what many expected the Lions to struggle with going into the season.
The interior offensive line was befuddled from start to finish, preventing the Lions from taking advantage of downfield passing windows or picking up momentum on the ground. Defensively, poor performance from the pass rush early contributed to the Lions falling into a hole.
Those were two concerns coming into the season already, but when contextualized with it being the first game after Detroit’s two coordinators departed for head coaching jobs, it was open season on the Lions and their 2025 outlook on Overreaction Monday.
“That fuels me because I don’t like losing, our players don’t like it, and you go back to work, man, and you get back to the basics of what you — man, you hit it head on,” Campbell said. “Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, we’re all accountable. And if we want them to win, we have to do the little things right and prepare that way. And then we have to play that way, so that’s what gets me going.”
Ultimately, Campbell said he’s not too surprised with the response to his team’s loss.
“That’s where the standards are at now. So, that’s the nature of what we’re in right now. That’s a good thing, that means we’ve risen above what we were at one time. That’s our world, man. That’s our world,” Campbell said.
“But I know that if we felt that way and acted that way, we’d be in trouble. So, we can’t worry about all that. I mentioned this the other day, all you worry about is getting better. You really do. We have to get much better about our fundamentals and communication. Just those two things alone.
“And if improve that, a whole other step above what we did last week, we’re going to be much better. And then, let’s get a little bit better the next week, and it’ll take care of itself. It really will.”
Lions quarterback Jared Goff said he doesn’t really care what people are saying about the team ahead of another pivotal NFC North contest. His goals for this Sunday — outside of a victory, of course — are to “communicate” and “be cleaner.”
“Don’t care. We’ve heard negative from the outside before. Is it anyone from this building? I don’t think so,” Goff said.
The Lions have a massive get-right opportunity in front of them. The Chicago Bears’ roster is not of the same quality as the Packers’, and Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams struggled to run Ben Johnson’s offense following a scripted series or two in which Williams started the game 10-for-10 passing.
Plus, the Lions have been in these spots since setting this standard, so it’s not completely uncharted territory. The team got blown out in an even uglier fashion in 2023, a Week 7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, 38-6, after starting the season 5-1. The Lions responded by beating the Las Vegas Raiders by two scores the following week and went on to reach the NFC Championship.
“It’s about a response. I didn’t wanna look at that tape like that. You don’t want to wake up that next morning and feel the way that we feel,” Lions receivers coach and assistant head coach Scottie Montgomery said. “But it’s about our response. We can react or we can respond. And I think both of those situations in the past, we’ve responded, so that’s what needs to come out of (this week).
“… Reacting is not going to change what we did. Responding will change our future.”
Ultimately, if the Lions can rebound to start the season 1-1, they’ll be in the exact same position that they were after two weeks of the 2023 and 2024 seasons. In both years, the Lions won in Week 1 but had a disappointing showing in Week 2, resulting in losses to Seattle and Tampa Bay, respectively, at Ford Field.
“Everybody thought the world was falling apart there for a little bit there, and then we came back,” Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson said.
“So that’s my expectation for this squad. … I think we’re built for it, and if you look at history, that’s what we’ve done.”
Originally Published: September 11, 2025 at 7:32 AM EDT