Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz discuss Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions after their loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV.
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Video Transcript
Because when you have one team that has literally nothing to play for, Playing with a backup quarterback, statistically eliminated from the postseason.
And then another team who has been in a Super Bowl window.
Who had only a 6% chance to make the playoffs, who absolutely, Positively needed to win out the rest of the season in order to keep their playoff hopes.
Alive, and that’s the effort that we get from that team?
Uh, take, uh, uh… Lost by double digits to a team with six net.
Passing yards.
What in the world is that?
What happened to a Lions team that was biting off kneecaps?
What happened to a Lions team that was always galvanized?
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That always played tough?
What happened to a Dan Campbell-coached team?
That it didn’t matter if the Lions didn’t have the better roster.
It didn’t matter if the Lions were outmatched.
They weren’t gonna get out-toughed, and they Weren’t going to get out-physicaled.
What happened to that team?
Because I saw a Lions team that… Oh, turned the ball over six times, Let’s start with that.
That’s probably the story of the game.
Jared Goff and his ball security are probably the story of the game.
And the Lions just got bullied on both lines of scrimmage.
At some point in every quarterback’s life, as a quarterback ascends, In the beginning, the quarterback needs help.
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Prop them up.
And then at some point, we presume that that quarterback is gonna be able to take whatever’s Around them and prop that up, right?
Like, that’s the natural progression for a Quarterback.
I think the head coach is very similar.
So, I look at Dan Campbell and I say, even if you were propped up for a bit by your Coordinators, we listened to all of the Lions players this year.
When they questioned, sometimes aggressively, how much we were questioning the coordinators, I’m looking at Dan Campbell and saying, “Your job, your main function is to run an Organization that is absolutely seamless.”
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Right?
Your job, sometimes as a head coach, is to be able to constantly replace those coordinators.
The fact that they haven’t been able to do it, that’s not shocking.
We see teams all the time take a step back when a coordinator changes.
But the fact that guys like Amon-Ra St. Brown spent the summer saying, “Hey, we know ball.”
Like, “Don’t worry about who’s coaching us.”
“We know how to play.”
Like, “Everybody in this building knows what they’re doing.”
Do they?
I mean, because now you’re looking at a team that is watching the window slam shut.
And this, this frustrates me for Lions fans, because you’ve endured 30, Forty, 50 years of suffering to finally get to the point where you’re a good football team.
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You’re a model franchise.
You’re doing the right things the right way.
But man, you’re in salary cap hell starting next year.
You’ve got some big numbers you’re going to have to adjust.
You’ve got young guys you’re gonna have to get paid.
Once you start to win, things don’t get easier, they get tougher.
And now I’m looking around saying, “Okay, Dan Campbell turned this thing around.”
But he’s Gotta do a much better job of identifying the right coaches in the building.
Of making sure that they stabilize this ship.
Because otherwise, This moment is going to be just that, a fleeting moment.
And this Lions team is too talented for that.
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But what do you do when Jared Goff goes out and has that sort of a game?
Then you have to look at the future and say, “Look at some of the salary cap numbers around Jared Goff.
Look at some of the salary cap numbers around the Lions.”
And all of a sudden, I’m wondering, do they have the right pieces in place to be Able to capitalize on this moment?
Because it feels like the Super Bowl window has Slipped through their fingers.