Dan Campbell Makes Request to Lions Fans After Locker Room Disappoints HC

Lions fans have never been shy about letting their emotions run wild after a loss. And you can’t expect them to after losing a season opener to the Packers. And Dan Campbell knows it better than anyone. That’s why, after tonight’s stumble, the head coach had just one message for the fanbase: breathe.

Dan Campbell knew the reaction that would follow after the loss. And he calmed things down before all of it unfolded. “In 2022, we started 1-6, and people were asking me to fire Ben. It took us a while to find our feet. But you learn every time you go through this and work together and find the right flow.” Translation? Do not build narratives based on the first game of the season. Believe in the roster and the coaches.

“I think people were asking me to fire Ben (Johnson) after 1-6… you learn from it and move on.”

Dan Campbell addresses the performance from the Lions’ offense. https://t.co/hWR4t2nDrc pic.twitter.com/0nxP6nIoD1

— Woodward Sports Network (@woodwardsports) September 8, 2025

And yes, if you don’t recall what happened in 2022, let us take you back. The franchise has bounced back from worse. Back in 2022, Lions started 1–6, then ripped off eight wins in their next ten and finished 9–8. That midseason turnaround was one of the best turnarounds in the last decade.

But when they stood at 1-6, the man at the center of the fans’ wrath was then OC Ben Johnson. He was criticised for the team’s shaky offensive structure every single day. Dan Campbell was hammered with questions related to Ben’s potential firing.

But what happened at the end of the season? They ranked fourth in total yards per game (380.0), fourth on third-down conversions (42.9%), and seventh in red-zone efficiency. So yes. Don’t build narratives based on the start. Give them time.

And you need to take context into account. This was the first game without Ben Johnson calling plays in a long time. He left in the offseason to take a head-coaching job. The Lions handed the OC role to John Morton and bumped Kelvin Sheppard up to DC, so yeah, those are real schematic shifts that can come with some early growing pains. And they’ll learn from it.

And Dan Campbell wasn’t worried about the coaching or ability; what made it sting was the ‘correctable mistakes.’

Dan Campbell was disappointed with the locker room

Yes, this wasn’t on the OC or DC. Dan Campbell was rather disappointed with the locker room because every mistake they made was fixable. “I thought we’d be much cleaner than we were,” he said. He added that he told the team that everything that showed up is correctable.

Let’s talk about the small, fixable things that bugged Dan Campbell the most. There was very clearly a third-down issue. The Lions went just 5-for-15 on third down, and that killed their drives while completely messing with any offensive rhythm.

NFL, American Football Herren, USA Scouting Combine Feb 25, 2025 Indianapolis, IN, USA Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell speaks during the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Indianapolis Scouting Combine Indiana United States, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xKirbyxLeex 20250225_jhp_al2_0352

And think of how poor they were in the red zone. Detroit was just 1-for-4 in the red zone, leaving points on the board and making the defense stay out there longer than they should have. And they lacked explosive play. The Lions only managed one play over 20 yards. That’s a far cry from the explosive, big-play offense that drove last year’s wins.

And any coaches’ biggest nightmare, penalties. The defense gave up a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty (Brian Branch’s helmet toss) that helped flip the field position. All of this is equal parts frustrating and fixable. But it doesn’t call for ringing the alarm bells. We’re far from that point.

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