The Detroit Lions lost a 17-point lead, then lost the NFC Championship on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers. Head coach Dan Campbell had a notable hand in the defeat with a pair of polarizing fourth-down decisions. And he's not hiding from the fact his team might not be back, telling players after Sunday's collapse that "this may have been our only shot" to reach the Super Bowl.
"Sometimes you can only say so much," Campbell told reporters after the Lions' 34-31 loss. "(Sometimes) you gotta live it, unfortunately. You gotta get your heart ripped out, which we did. And it's a lesson learned. And look, I told those guys, 'This may have been our only shot.' Do I think that? No. Do I believe that? No. However, I know how hard it is to get here. I am well aware. It's gonna be twice as hard to get back to this point next year."
Campbell went on to argue that it's "irrelevant" how much the Lions may improve this offseason, because "everybody in our division's gonna be loaded back up," and "everybody's gonna want a piece" of their ascending team. It's an unusually transparent remark from a head coach hours removed from such a monumental game, which nearly sent Detroit to its first-ever Super Bowl appearance.
If Lions fans can't take solace in the fact Campbell's trademark aggression was a major factor in the club's promising-turned-deflating finish (and doesn't appear to be going anywhere), they can perhaps restore hope -- and counter the notion that 2023 was their peak -- by remembering the growth of the organization under the current regime's watch. After finishing 3-13-1 back in 2021, the first season with Campbell at head coach and Brad Holmes at general manager, the Lions have improved to 9-8 and 12-5 in back-to-back years.
