![\"Dan](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2165418629-1.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Detroit Lions followers will dig where he lands in a new NFL head coach ranking that’s out from NBC Sports for the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n
Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions<\/a> had a rough time during the 2025-26 season<\/a>, with the team rounding out the run with a 9-8 record<\/a> and no trip to the postseason. So, heading into the 2026-27 season, he has something to prove, but at least one NFL<\/a> expert appears to still be totally in on Campbell.<\/p>\n In a Tuesday, April 7 feature for NBC Sports<\/a>, Patrick Daugherty gives his head coach rankings for all 32 teams. He calls it \u201can almanac, an assessment of where the league\u2019s 32 coaches find themselves right now.\u201d<\/p>\n So, where did Campbell land on the tally? Daugherty has him at No. 8 out of 32, which is a pretty good spot. But, it comes with a little warning.<\/p>\n Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell is Riding the \u2018Rollercoaster\u2019 of the NFL<\/p>\n Last year, Campbell was ranked No. 7 on the tally, and this year, he\u2019s only down one spot at No. 8. That shows Daugherty still believes he has promise.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rollercoaster always comes down,\u201d he states in the piece<\/a>. \u201cIn the NFL, you just hope it\u2019s after you\u2019ve already won the Super Bowl. When the answer is inevitably \u2018no\u2019 for all but the luckiest few, the obsession then becomes getting it back up into the air.\u201d<\/p>\n He adds that Campbell seems \u201cuniquely well suited\u201d to head up the Detroit Lions, but asks, \u201cDid you burn too much fuel the first time around?\u201d<\/p>\n So, Daugherty points out that the Lions made some mistakes last season, including not being able to solidify their defense and, at times, even appeared to go \u201cthrough the motions on offense.\u201d Also, of course, the team missed offensive coordinator Ben Johnson more than expected, and John Morton didn\u2019t prove to be the right fit as a replacement.<\/p>\n But, Campbell is still ranked No. 8 because he \u201cdid not lose the locker room,\u201d Daugherty says. \u201cNothing went off the rails. The Lions were competitive until the very end of the year, where they beat Johnson for the second time in as many tries in Week 18.\u201d<\/p>\n Have the Detroit Lions Missed their Window for the Super Bowl?<\/p>\n From there, Daugherty gets a bit existential and notes that Campbell\u2019s<\/a> \u201cwords after the team\u2019s 2024 NFC Championship Game defeat \u2014 \u2018this may have been our only shot\u2019 \u2014 are looking all the more prophetic.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the best coach in the league, his pick for No. 1 is Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>. What makes McVay stand above the rest is that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t just want to win,\u201d Daugherty says. \u201cHe wants to do so in ways either no one has ever tried before or everyone else has forgotten about.\u201d He also calls McVay the \u201ca great blend of new school and old and even says the coach is \u201cdestined to be remembered as one of the sport\u2019s timeless geniuses.\u201d<\/p>\n So, Campbell is still strong at No. 8, but that comes with the question of whether he\u2019ll be able to get the team\u2019s act together in the 2026-27 season. Let\u2019s hope new Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing<\/a> and Campbell can work magic<\/a> together in the following year.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAnne Erickson<\/a> is an award-winning reporter for Heavy Sports covering the NFL, NBA and college football. Anne Erickson has years of experience covering the NFL and additional sports, and her work has been published via ESPN, Fox Sports and more. She has interviewed some of the biggest names in sports, including Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Erickson also hosts several podcasts and is a Detroit-based radio host. More about Anne Erickson<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lions\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Detroit Lions followers will dig where he lands in a new NFL head coach ranking that’s out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-862612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroitlions","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-lions","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116376991606473285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862612","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=862612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}