ALLEN PARK — And then it was Monday.
The Detroit Lions cleaned out their lockers, said their goodbyes and, along with coach Dan Campbell, reflected on the 34-31 loss to the 49ers in Sunday’s NFC Championship game.
“Our guys eyes are open. This should be the ultimate motivation to push forward and it will be for us, it will be,’’ Campbell said. “We’ll learn and move on.’’
Of course they are not happy with the defeat, after watching a 17-point lead evaporate in the second half.
“This is what you hear about all the time in catastrophes — it doesn’t take one or two, it takes 12 things to go wrong and we did all 12 of those wrong in all three phases,’’ Campbell said on Monday. “And ultimately, where we’ve been so good when one area is struggling a little bit and the other two pick them up. That was the game in the second half where in all three phases we were not good and we continued to make mistake after mistake after mistake in all three phases.’’
Campbell wasn’t as emotional as immediately after the game — and maybe it was because he was exhausted — but he did seem drained on Monday. The players were still digesting the horrific loss but were also happy to look ahead.
The future could be bright. One betting service has the Lions’ odds to win the Super Bowl in 2025 at 7/1 – the only two better teams are Kansas City 12/1 and San Francisco 49ers at 6/1. So there’s that.
All season long, Campbell said the team was built for whatever challenge they faced. “We’re built for this,’’ the coach repeated over and over. He was right until the second half on Sunday when they surrendered a 17-point lead.
‘I think the whole point was to create a core that had certain standards. Obviously they’ve got to be good players and we have that. But they’ve got to be a certain way, there’s got to be a certain mindset, a certain identity and we have that in our core,’’ Campbell said.
Between free agency and the draft, the roster will be tweaked for next season.
“And we’ve got to add pieces that are like-minded — we have to add more talent, more competition that thinks the same way that group of guys in the locker does,’’ Campbell said. “And it’s non-negotiable if it’s not. There’s no level of talent that’s worth bringing something that doesn’t fit what we’re about. That’s very important.’’
The players are all good with that – they saw the results in going 12-5, winning the NFC North title and a pair of playoff wins.
“They want guys that represent what this city is about. The cliche thing — blue collar, hard-working, resilient. That’s not lip service, that’s what we are,’’ left tackle Taylor Decker said. “There’s something to be said for those intangibles … Hopefully this is the tip of the iceberg for us and we’ll have some high standards going forward in the next few years.’’
Campbell, a master communicator, should guide them in the right direction just like he has for three seasons. He knows he has a foundation set.
“There’s things we won’t have to start all the way from scratch, but there’s got to be that hunger, there’s got to be that work, there’s got to be that attention to detail, there’s got to be that urgency,’’ Campbell said. “And in that regard, you’re starting all over again and if you don’t and you think you’re just going to walk out there because you went to the NFC Championship game you’ve got another thing coming. That’s how you become average in a hurry. They’ll know that, they understand that, as we get to next year that will be the message.’’
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