I remember watching Dan Campbell's introductory press conference and shaking my head. When he started talking about biting knee caps and sending opposing teams crying to the trainer, it did not sound like the measured tone of a professional NFL leader. It felt like a gimmick, and right from the very beginning, he struck me as a guy who was completely in over his head.
When the first season played out with a miserable 3-13-1 record, I figured his days were numbered and that the experiment was already failing. Looking back at his coaching resumé before he got the job, it was awfully sparse. He had never served as a full time offensive or defensive coordinator anywhere, so I kept asking myself what he was actually bringing to the table beyond motivational speeches.
Then came the hire that changed everything when he brought in Ben Johnson as offensive coordinator. The team's record jumped immediately that very season, and it was obvious that Johnson was the mastermind who brought the vital X's and O's to the franchise. At the same time, we certainly do not want to forget about Aaron Glenn as a steadying force on the defensive side of the ball. With two quality coordinators running the show, the fate of the Lions shifted dramatically over the next few seasons.
Even with that success, I always believed that if it were not for Campbell and his bonehead fourth down gambles, this team might have actually won a Super Bowl. That reality hit its peak during the NFC Championship Game against my San Francisco 49ers, where the Lions built a massive lead at halftime and looked like they were roaring onward to the championship stage. The atmosphere at the break was heavy, but the second half flipped the script instantly. The Niners came out of the locker room and kicked a field goal on their first possession to grab a bit of momentum. When the Lions got the ball back, they drove down the field only to get stuffed on third down right inside field goal range.
Instead of taking the safe, makable points, Campbell decided to go for it on fourth down. In that exact moment, as a massive Niners fan, I was overjoyed. If the Lions had taken that field goal, all the momentum we needed to climb back in would have been swallowed up, and the only way San Francisco was getting back into the game was with a massive stop like the one our defense just pulled off. The conversion failed, the Niners used that life to spark an incredible comeback, and the rest of the game slipped away in a crushing defeat.
The season after that heartbreak, the Lions were still good, but they carried an aura of vulnerability. Soon enough, the inevitable happened when both Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn left to take head coaching jobs elsewhere. I remember thinking how interesting it would be to see how the season played out without Campbell's elite X's and O's guys to properly scheme and prepare the team for weekly battles. Sure enough, diving into the next year, the regression was right there in plain sight.
That brings us to this current season, where after two games, the Lions are lucky to even be 1-1. Week one saw them blow a twenty one point lead and stumble into overtime, surviving only because of a completely questionable play where Jared Goff's fumble somehow got overturned. I have truly never seen a ball thrown five yards backward get ruled a forward pass, and without that miraculous bailout call, I am entirely certain they would have lost.
Then came the Buffalo Bills game last night, which started as a disaster with the Lions looking completely lost on both sides of the ball. They attempted a late push to make a game of it, but they simply do not have the roster depth or discipline to pull off miracles anymore.
It is officially time to put Dan Campbell on the hot seat. While he certainly possesses a fiery rah rah spirit, you have to question how far that can really carry a franchise when the X's and O's deficiencies catch up. I will be watching closely, and if this ship does not turn around in a hurry, he is a clear candidate to be the first head coach fired this season.
