One of the best qualities in a strong leader is the ability to recognize when you\u2019ve made a mistake. Self-assessment is important in any line of work in order to learn and grow.<\/p>\n
For Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell, the postseason failure of the 2024 season is not something he is going to let go to waste. And after some self-reflection, he admits he may have made a miscalculation when directing the focus of the team. In a really good interview with WXYZ\u2019s Brad Galli, Campbell admits his hyperfocus on earning the No. 1 seed may have actually turned out to be a mistake.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things, when I look back (to last year), I think the emphasis needs to stay on winning the division and playing a hell of a lot better Week 17 than you do in Week 1,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cIf we\u2019ll just focus on that, no matter whether it is at home or it\u2019s on the road or whatever, then we\u2019ll be battle-tested and ready to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a little part of me last year, I\u2019m like, Man, did I put such an emphasis on the one-seed, playing at home, all these things that it was almost like\u2014the set of circumstances, we had a bunch of injuries\u2014that it was like [sigh]. We took a deep breath. And then it was like, \u2018Oh man, we reached one of those goals,\u2019 but the ultimate goal is the Super Bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an interesting implication\u2014that the Lions may have taken too much of a deep breath, taken too much solace in winning the NFC\u2019s top seed, that they weren\u2019t locked in for the Divisional Round game against the Washington Commanders. From the outside looking in, it certainly seems like Campbell is being overly critical of himself. The team was going through several issues out of his control, mainly that his defense had been depleted by injury.<\/p>\n
Still, Campbell wonders if he had delivered a different message to the team, would the outcome have been different?<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I just, in my own head, did I set us up for failure by the way that I spoke about it?\u201d Campbell said. \u201cI think about little things like that. Whereas, you know what? We didn\u2019t lose on the road last year. What if we had gone on the road?\u201d<\/p>\n
The message has been noticeably different this year. Instead of a focus on all roads leading through Detroit, the team is more focused on improving and winning wherever and however they need to each and every week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll play at home, we\u2019ll play on the road, we\u2019ll play in the elements, we\u2019ll play in the grass, turf. It doesn\u2019t matter, the wind,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cEvery game is different. You find a way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the best qualities in a strong leader is the ability to recognize when you\u2019ve made a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[153,1889,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-284581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-detroit-lions-news","9":"tag-detroit-lions-quotes","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115021063639582852","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}