A year ago, the Lions won the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs in Week 18. This year, the Lions are already mathematically eliminated from playoff contention heading into Week 18. Coach Dan Campbell knows that’s not good enough.
Campbell said that the Lions will be fueled this offseason by knowing they fell short, and that they’re going to prove they’re not far off from being championship contenders again.
“Sometimes you’ve got to hit rock bottom before you can work your way back up,” Campbell said. “And relative to where we were at, this is rock bottom. But as bad as it looks, I said this the other day, it’s not as far away as it may appear. We’ve just got to get a few things back in line here. But it does apply to the coaches, and no different than the players, that’s what you look for as a head coach: How do other coaches respond to what we’re going through here?”
Campbell said he thinks failure is good motivation. If so, the Lions will be very motivated in 2026, because they failed to achieve any of their goals in 2025.
