ALLEN PARK -- Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions have mastered the art of rebounding from losses better than most.
So, when the Lions coach says, “Maybe we needed this,” it carries a little more weight than if it were coming from someone else.
“I go back to this, maybe we needed this,” Campbell told MLive after the team’s loss in Kansas City. “Maybe we needed to get kicked around a little bit, because that’s what happened.”
In the locker room after the game, veteran defensive tackle D.J. Reader said, “If he believes that, I guess, I don’t think that ever.” Reader added that they show up to work, correct the film and that they’re “4-2 and the sky isn’t falling out there.”
Lions quarterback Jared Goff said in the immediate aftermath of the loss, “Not right now.” But much like Reader, he thinks as the week goes on they’ll be able to dissect the loss, what went wrong and “come back and play a little bit better than we did ... ”
The Lions haven’t lost back-to-back games in the regular season since Weeks 7 and 8 back in 2022. That’s three full years, for those counting at home.
And while nobody wants to lose any game, any time. Campbell had a great response to MLive pressing for how that “Maybe we needed this” mantra comes to life in the week of preparation, coming off a loss.
“Well, you don’t ever want things to happen. Nobody wants to lose, we certainly don’t want to lose,” Campbell said on Tuesday. “But it puts a little extra sense of urgency on you. It puts a little bit of that bad taste. It sometimes gives you that extra kick to get things back to where they need to be.
“Maybe you didn’t quite see it, or maybe it’s -- look, the other thing is that’s a really good team, man. You’ve got to be on point when you play really good teams.”
And there is no rest for the wicked on the horizon, even with the bye week approaching. The Lions host the 5-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football. Then after the bye week, they host the Minnesota Vikings (3-2), and hit the road for back-to-back games against the Washington Commanders (3-3) and Philadelphia Eagles (4-2).
The Lions had to get to 15 wins and beat the Vikings in a winner-take-all finale just to repeat as NFC North champions last season. Of course, they lost to the Commanders in the divisional round, and the Eagles are the reigning Super Bowl champions.
Not only are these games as tough as they come, but they hold a ton of weight when it comes down to playoff positioning in the tight race in the NFC.
“And that’s what I love about this stretch that’s coming is we’re about to hit a row of them, right?” Campbell said. “A whole ton of them, and your margin for error is so small. I mean, that’s what I told the team today. That actually fires me up, because you do, you have to be on point. You don’t get the luxury of making a mistake here, make a mistake there, against these types of teams we’re getting ready to play.
“When you don’t, and you do all the little things right, you learn another way to win, you start getting better. And this is the stuff that really gets you to where you want to be by the end of the year. So, it’s exactly what we need. It’s going to be outstanding competition. We’ll be better for it, we will, in the long run.”
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