Dan Campbell Admits to Big Mistake He Made With the Lions

Nobody is perfect, and Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell has been the first to admit when he’s wrong. He’s a humble kind of guy and doesn’t mind taking responsibility when he makes the wrong decisions on the field. Thankfully, he’s made a lot of good decisions over the past few years, which means he’s been able to help lead the Lions to some historic seasons.

The Detroit Lions’ 2024-25 season was fantastic and led them to the playoffs. But, the Lions fell early and hard to the Washington Commanders in the first postseason game. So, that trip to the big game didn’t happen, and the Lions didn’t even really come close.

Now, Campbell is opening up about what went wrong for him last season and why the Lions lost so early. Being the man who he is, Campbell is taking full responsibility and talking about a mistake that he made.

Detroit Lions Coach Admits to a Blunder

GettyHead coach Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions and Head coach Kevin O’Connell of the Minnesota Vikings embrace after the game at Ford Field.

Campbell is opening up about some decisions that he made during the last season that didn’t work out too well. In an interview with WXYZ’s Brad Galli on Monday, August 11, Campbell said that he was so focused on getting that No. 1 seed last season that he didn’t focus enough on the postseason.

“One of the things, when I look back, I think the emphasis needs to stay on winning the division and playing … a lot better Week 17 than you do in Week 1,” Campbell said. “If we’ll just focus on that, no matter whether it is at home or it’s on the road or whatever, then we’ll be battle-tested and ready to go.”

He added, “There was a little part of me last year, I’m like, man, did I put such an emphasis on the one-seed, playing at home, all these things that it was almost like—the set of circumstances, we had a bunch of injuries—that it was like. We took a deep breath. And then it was like, ‘Oh man, we reached one of those goals,’ but the ultimate goal is the Super Bowl.”

It’s sweet to see how honest Campbell is about falling short. Nobody will ever know if the reason the team didn’t go far in the postseason is because of that strong focus on getting the No. 1 seed, but Campbell will certainly be zeroing in on getting to the big game this season.

Dan Campbell Is Approaching This Year Differently

In the interview, Campbell also talked about what haunted him after that Washington loss. “So I just, in my own head, did I set us up for failure by the way that I spoke about it?” he said that he asked himself. “I think about little things like that. Whereas, you know what? We didn’t lose on the road last year. What if we had gone on the road?”

This season, Campbell says he’s focusing on the Detroit lions winning however they can each game. That means both home and away games.

“We’ll play at home. We’ll play on the road. We’ll play in the elements. We’ll play in the grass, turf. It doesn’t matter, the wind,” Campbell said. “Every game is different. You find a way to win.”

It’s great to see that Campbell has been reflective during the offseason. Hopefully his revelations will help the Lions going forward.