The Detroit Lions need to move on from a bad loss in Week 16, and Dan Campbell is doing his best to make sure it happens.
The Detroit Lions had their worst performance in quite a while in Week 16 against the Carolina Panthers, and it was up there among their worst performances of the season. But still with a chance to make the playoffs, there is business at hand in Week 17 against the Chicago Bears.
Early this week, via Justin Rogers of The Detroit News, head coach Dan Campbell saw benefit to the Lions being beaten like they were by the Panthers.
Look, I’m just going to say this again, it stings,” “It’s awful. But man, it’s the best thing that could happen to us because I think no matter who you are, in whatever you do, some of your best work is when you get your face kicked in. . . . I do know, man, when your back is against the wall and you get trodded on and everything is at its worst, either you stay down there, or you get up, and you come back motivated and upset with calculated energy and aggression, and man, you go. And there is a purpose. So I think this is the best thing for us.”
Dan Campbell trying to see to it the Lions move on from Panthers loss
On Wednesday, Campbell pointed to making sure the Lions move on from the Panthers loss. He was asked if he’d consider this season a success if the team missed the playoffs.
Via SI.com:
I’m not even gonna get into that, just until this thing is done, just because of where we’re at,” Campbell said. “To me, success would be winning this game right now. To bounce back after a tough loss and get back on track and to me, this is our recalibrate week. We’re gonna recalibrate, man, because we were doing some good things, we found a pretty good spot in what we were doing and how we needed to do it. And, we got a little out of line.
If Campbell is right about the benefit of getting “your face kicked in” how the Lions did on Christmas Even, than a decisive, all-encompassing win over the 3-12 Bears will come on Sunday to make Week 18 important. Words from Campbell and any players this week have to be met with pinpoint execution on game day.