The new look Detroit Lions are having a nightmare year. This coming off of a 5 win season, with what was franchise Quarterback, Matthew Stafford. The Lions jumped into headlines early in the off-season as they searched for their new Head Coach and General manager, after firing Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn late in the 2020 season. The last win came less than a week after Patricia and Quinn was relieved of their duty's. Darrell Bevell took over as interim head coach, he is now the offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars. They ended up hiring Las Angeles Rams' scout Brad Holmes as general manager and Saints' assistant coach Dan Campbell as head coach. Shortly after, Matthew Stafford announced he no longer wanted to compete with the team and was wanting to be traded to a contender. At the time there wasn't much buzz around Stafford and the Lions getting ready to cut ties... But, the day it was reported that the Lions and Rams agreed on a trade to send Stafford to Detroit it blew up and was being called a "Blockbuster" deal. The reason was what the Lions recieved in return... 2016 #1 overall pick, Jared Goff, a 2021 3rd Rd pick, and 2, 1st round picks (2022, 2023).
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Another reason the Lions were in the headlines was because of Campbell's legendary introduction press conference, Campbell, said wild things like "Bitting Kneecaps". What Campbell was saying is when his team gets knocked down, they will come back stronger, well... That hasn't been the case for the Lions and their fans, however as they went down and have struggled to get back up. Through Campbell's first 11 games, the Lions are Winless, but, those losses didn't come without a fight. The past three games however the play calling duty's have been taken over by Campbell and he is raising red flags...
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The Lions past three games have been decided by 3 points or fewer, but the Lions defense has showed up where the offense wouldn't, keeping them in the game, yet the offense still falls short. Detroit has had opportunities to extend drives and try and score points but Campbell has showed zero confidence in his Quarterbacks with his play calling, basically giving up on 3rd downs. He isn't even, just calling "conservative" plays on 3rd downs but the entire drive. Jared Goff seems to be limited to screen passes short of the sticks in nearly every passing attempt, since the games that Campbell has taken over play calling. Detroit hired former Chargers' head coach Anthony Lynn as offensive coordinator in the off-season, the same day that Stafford announced he was parting ways. Lynn was calling plays on offense for the first 8 games before Campbell decided to take over the role. To compare what Lynn did vs Campbell you have to go back to Lynn's first three games, vs Campbell's
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Anthony Lynn's first game as the OC for the Lions he took on a really good San Francisco, 49ers defense. That day the defense couldn't keep the game close enough for Detroit to pull it off, but, near late game heroics at home with 2 minutes left made it fun to watch, and the Lions lost 41-33. After putting up 33 point's against the Niners, Lynn's offense rolled into Lambeau field to take on the Green Bay Packers in a Monday Night primetime game. After a great start in the 1st half the Lions offense fell asleep in the 2nd half as Aaron Rodgers woke up, Lions lost 35-17 in that game. Detroit then came home to take on the Ravens, which on paper seemed to make it look a sure win for the Ravens, however Detroit was ready for a fight. After trailing 10-0 at halftime, Lynn found something that sparked his offense and Detroit got the lead with just over a minute left. It looked like Campbell and Lynn was sure to get their first win in Detroit, however a missed delay of Game call set up star QB, Lamar Jackson to get a completion and first down on a 4th &19. After the play to move the chains, the Ravens had two more completion's and was forced to try a record breaking field goal in the last second of the game. They called upon veteran Justin Tucker and in Detroit heartbreak fashion, he delivered and broke former Lions kicker Matt Prater's NFL record on a kick that never should've happened because the Ravens should've been called for delay of Game...
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Campbell took over against the Pittsburgh Steelers on November, 14th. It was gonna be a tough matchup in coach Campbell's first game play calling. They started really slow and sluggish while their defense played their guts out. The Lions found a way to head to overtime 16-16. Detroit had opportunities to close the game in regulation but kicker Santoso missed an extra point and Campbell gave in on multiple 3rd down attempts by running simple RB Draws. Where Campbell's big red flags came up was in OT however. Santoso had one more shot to hit a walk-off with a 48 yard field goal attempt, but the kick fell WAY short. From there on the defense kept it tied and gave Campbell's offense 4 opportunities to win, Dan Campbell however struggled to put a drive together and they was forced to settle with a tie. Without a doubt frustrated that the couldn't close out a win, but perhaps a little more confident and relieved Lions team headed to Cleveland to play yet another AFC North team, the Cleveland Browns. Campbell again stuck with his guns in the run game, even on 3rd downs and the only reason that the game was close was running back, D'Andre Swift, who single handedly carried the Lions on his back that game. They fell short, losing 13-10. In the Lions annual Thanksgiving classic, Lions fans came in thinking that it was the one, as they was taking on a struggling Bears team, who dealt with a lot of adversity the previous week as a false report was spread around that Bears' Matt Nagy, was going to be fired after the game, regardless of the outcome. That wasn't true and it perhaps lit a spark under Nagy. Detroit came out swinging as Campbell put together his best drive with the play calling duty's, but, the Lions offense came to a halt after that. The defense again played well, as they kept Detroit in position to take the lead, late 3rd quarter. The offense didn't score again after that and they would be haunted again by another last second filed goal. They lost 16-14... After some play calls on Thursday the fans booed Dan Campbell's play calls and it was even addressed by commentators Joe Buck and Troy Aikman... This should be a clear sign for Campbell to give Lynn play calling duty's back.
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Dan Campbell has still done a good job in his first season, and is doing very well building the culture, if Lynn handles the offense and Campbell takes more of an culture repair role, the Lions can be better now and down the road....
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Thanks for the read, Happy Holidays!
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