After the Lions blew a 17-point halftime lead over the 49ers in the 2023 NFC Championship, Detroit coach Dan Campbell made a comment that has proven, to date, to be prophetic.
"This may have been our only shot."
After a 2025 season that most Lions fans would dub pathetic, given the standard that Campbell has created, the sixth-year head coach insists that the Lions will have another shot.
"Our window is not closed," Campbell said, via Eric Woodyard of ESPN. "It's not closed. That was the whole reason why we did this. We fell short last year. But needed to get in [the playoffs], and now it's about the matchups, where you're playing and who you're playing. We want to be able to do that every year, and sometimes, I'm just saying is what happens is, you want to go all-in for one player, well how do you know that one player doesn't get hurt?
"Or how do you know the three players behind him don't get hurt and now you've got no depth. Whereas, let's just get a unit together that we feel like can compete every year and then it's about in that moment, we're making those plays and finding a way to win that game."
The Lions have the talent to compete every year. Last year, they failed to deliver in the moments on which a playoff berth was riding — culminating in a disappointing Christmas Day loss to the Vikings and quarterback Max Brosmer, which had nothing to do with Brosmer and everything to do with Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
The Lions landed at fourth place in the NFC North. Which carries a benefit into 2026. In a scheduling formula that is fixed as to 14 games, the other three games have the first-place Bears playing the Texans, Eagles, and Seahawks — and the second-place Packers playing the Jaguars, Cowboys, and Rams. The Lions, thanks to bringing up the rear, face the Titans, Giants, and Cardinals.
In a division that saw only two games separate the Bears and Lions, those three games can make a huge difference.
Still, the Lions will need to do much more than they did last year. The turnover in the coaching staff, one of the basic costs of sustained success, hurt the offense and the defense. John Morton was unable to replace Ben Johnson, which eventually prompted Campbell to replace Morton as the playcaller.
"I don't think anybody necessarily tells you, 'Hey, be ready to lose [eight] coaches in one year,'" Campbell said. "Of course, that's the plan. You're going to lose some guys, you do it right and then the next guy, you can promote or you can go find guys. But when you're talking about [eight coaches], that's a tall task. But you owe it to the players, you owe it to the organization to find the best guy."
They think they have the right guy to run the offense in Drew Petzing. But they thought they had the right guy last year in Morton. And nothing about Petzing's history (three years as the Cardinals' offensive coordinator, three years before that as an assistant with the Browns) suggests that the Lions are squatting on the next Bill Walsh.
Still, coaches are only as good as their players. And the Lions have plenty of great players. Which makes last year's failure to make the playoffs even more jarring.
We'll find out soon enough if the Lions can get back to being what they were in 2023 and 2024. The first five games (Saints, at Bills, Jets, at Panthers, at Cardinals) give them a chance to be 4-1 or better going into the Week 6 bye.
Of course, the Lions started 4-1 last year. And then they went 5-7. It will take a fast start and a strong finish to reclaim the NFC North and to set the stage for another chance to not blow a big lead on the road in January and/or to not be blown out at home in the divisional round, at a time when the table was otherwise set for their first ever Super Bowl appearance.
There's no reason to think it won't go well. Beyond the fact that, last year, it didn't.
Another failure to make the playoffs could make things interesting when Campbell's seventh season rolls around in 2027. Which would put him only two years short of matching Wayne Fontes for the longest head-coaching tenure in franchise history.
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