The Detroit Lions didn’t really need extra motivation before Week 18 against the Green Bay Packers, but Dan Campbell found some fodder to do so.
On the “Sunday Night Football” stage, and with chance to finish with a winning record if they beat the rival Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, the Detroit Lions probably didn’t need any extra motivation in Week 18.
But head coach Dan Campbell found some.
Running back Jamaal Williams was recently on “Happy Hour” of the Go Long podcast with Tyler Dunne of GoLongTD.com. As always, Williams was a fantastic interview.
Here’s what Williams said about Campbell’s motivational tool heading into the season finale, via Woodward Sports.
Before we left he played like a promo cut of everybody just talking s**t about us. Saying “Oh yeah, it’s the Cinderella game for the Packers”, “They goin to bust into the playoffs!” Im just like, huhhhh? And it was only like 2 mins, 2 and half, but that was enough for me to be like “aiight, fosho”. I already had it in me already. I was already simmering. But then he really made me simmerrrrrrrrr. I had to really simmer. When I went out to pregame I already knew. I was was going to put on heavy metal, everything…….. It was everything. It had media, it had Aaron on there talking s**t. Aaron Jones my boy. He was like “Oh yeah, we goin to the playoffs. Yeahhhhh”. I was like, we didn’t even talk that whole week.”
Dan Campbell knew what to do to push the buttons of Lions players before Packers game
Williams’ postgame interview after the season finale win over the Packers reflected the sentiment Campbell put together and showed. He went from tears talking about his recently deceased great-grandfather into a full, WWE-style heel turn.
Check that interview out below. If you’ve seen it before, no matter how many times, it’s worth a re-watch.
Williams revealed he played the final five games of the season with a broken hand. But a “jacked up” pinkie dates back a few years to his time with the Packers (thanks to Jordan Love, apparently). Williams also said Campbell did not say tell the team they were eliminated from the playoffs before kickoff of the regular season finale.
It’s no surprise that Campbell found a way to freshly motivate the Lions in Week 18. The season finale was hardly meaningless, even with being able to make the playoffs eventually not in the cards.