DETROIT — Dan Campbell did what he always does after the Detroit Lions lose, which is to stand up and accept responsibility for everything that happened.
The Lions’ head coach struggled to finish his postgame press conference, which is expected given the 45-31 divisional-round loss to the Washington Commanders. Despite a 15-win season, the No. 1 seed, and home field advantage, the team failed to win a single playoff game.
“Can’t do that right now, and I told the team that,” the Lions head coach said of looking back on the season. “Look, they know, and I told them, ‘At the end of the day, after all of this, the loss today, I still –‘ I love the men, I respect them, and I appreciate everything they’ve done. But I’m not here to speak about ‘What a terrific year,’ or how many wins we’ve had — because I don’t think any of us feel that way right now.
“The entire goal of everything you do is to get to the show, guy. It’s why you’re playing this game, and we fell short. Short.”
Campbell blamed the Lions’ lack of preparation for this must-win game, as well as the too-many-men-on-the-field penalty that resulted in a back-breaking score in the second half. If there was blame to be assigned, the head coach placed it squarely on his strong shoulders.
After the heartbreaking loss, Campbell had to stop and gather himself when talking about his team and what they went through. Campbell talked about the misery these players went through just to be allowed to play, which led back to him blaming himself for the shattering, surprising loss to the Commanders.
“Yes, I don’t know. “I don’t know what it was,” Campbell admitted. “And it was one of those unusual days. Things seemed a little weird. I mean, the first one we had, we’re going to (Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint, and Saint just kind of trips a little bit, and then (Jared) Goff has to move back in the pocket and reset, and then he gets sacked, and the ball is knocked out, and they recover it. It was merely a chain reaction.
“It’s a chain reaction of events that occur all at once, so it’s more than one thing. And that was how the day went for a little while, and it was just not our style. We had a few penalties, and we just didn’t play well. And I remarked that we did not compliment one other, and look, dude, it is the same thing. At the end of the day, dude, I did not have them ready. It’s difficult to look at.”
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