Allen Park — Grit isn’t enough.
As coach of the Detroit Lions, Dan Campbell has made that concept the driving motto of the franchise. It’s on hats and shirts, it’s painted on the walls at the practice facility, and it’s the central theme with many of his speeches to the team. But it’s simply not enough.
The hard hats are cracked and the lunch pails are rusted shut. The optimism that was in full bloom through training camp has all but withered and died, as the Lions stumble into the team’s bye week with a 1-4 record, coming off the most embarrassing of losses, a 29-0 thumping at the hands of the New England Patriots, with former coach Matt Patricia on the opposing sideline.
No one thought this was going to be an easy rebuild when the Lions essentially tore the roster down to the studs last year, but this is about the time the team should be turning a corner. But wins — the only stat that matters — continue to elude the Lions at every turn.
“I think everybody is in the same boat here,” Campbell said on Monday. “Everybody is upset. Everybody is frustrated. Nobody likes losing here. I think everybody knows we’re better than 1-4, but we haven’t shown that collectively. In pieces, we have, but I also know what kind of group of guys we’ve got in this locker room. (General manager) Brad (Holmes) and I built it that way, so these guys aren’t going to lay down; they’re not going to give up. It’s a good group of guys, and we’ve got to regroup.”
No one is denying the Lions will fight. The question is whether it’s enough. Character and culture aren’t an issue, because, yeah, Campbell and Holmes have loaded the roster with grinders. But since when has hard work been the issue? Ask Frank Ragnow, Detroit’s Pro Bowl center. He played three seasons under Patricia and doesn’t question the work ethic of any of those rosters, either.
“I’ve always felt like I’ve been part of teams that worked pretty hard,” Ragnow said.
Well, Ragnow has been here four full seasons and never experienced anything other than a last-place finish in the division. And that’s where the Lions reside once again, looking up at the Bears, Packers and Vikings from the cellar.
It’s frustrating for everyone in the locker room.
“We don’t do this to work every day for us to come out and be 1-4,” running back Jamaal Williams said. “We don’t accept losing. I don’t accept losing. I never will get used to losing. Losing will never be anything that I feel like in this locker room right now and we will never get used to it. We’re not trying to get used to it.
“…And you have a bad game and people think y’all not working hard enough with what you’re doing in there,” Williams said. “But they don’t know what we do every day. We working every day hard: video, practice, lifting, extra time. I’ve seen so many of my teammates working extra after practice. They don’t have to, but they do that and that’s the mindset that I love about this team is we have the mindset of working hard and being champions and having that standard of winning. We just got to get over the hump and we just got to put it into our play.”
So, if the willingness to work hard and fight to the final whistle are not in question, what’s the problem?
Ragnow admitted it was a good question and fell back on what he acknowledged was coach-speak — the need to apply that work on Sundays and play complementary football. That’s definitely something the Lions haven’t done well lately, with the offense and defense taking turns on which unit is letting the other down on a given Sunday.
It leaves coaching and talent as the culprits — and you’re free to choose which one you want to blame, because you’ll be correct either way. The Lions have some quality pieces, but still lack the necessary depth to contend for playoff berths and division titles. And no one can confidently say the coaches are consistently maximizing the talent they do have, particularly on defense. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to define a single thing they do well on that side of the ball.
There’s something to be said about the roster’s youth and a slew of injuries, as well — a one-and-a-half-year wave of them as Campbell puts it — but everyone involved in this game knows these will never fly as an excuse, which is why he doesn’t try to make them one.
Overall, Campbell remains optimistic about what’s ahead. He has no choice. As he said, these are his guys, the coaches and players he and Holmes have chosen. That’s the group they’ll lean on to climb out of a grave they’ve dug to start this season, one that’s already five feet deep.
He’ll spend the bye considering additional changes to personnel, following some defensive adjustments that netted positive results against New England, as well as altering practice routines, including an increased emphasis on one-on-one work when the team returns from its short break.
But the totality of Detroit’s focus turns to the next game, a road trip to Dallas, because if the ball is ever going to get rolling in 2022, it needs to start immediately. For the Lions’ sake, hopefully, Campbell can find something other than grit to get them over that hump.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers