The Detroit Lions fell to 12-2 on the season via a 48-42 home loss to the Buffalo Bills (11-3) this past Sunday that featured Buffalo’s Josh Allen likely cementing himself as the regular-season Most Valuable Player.
While speaking about the defeat against Buffalo during a Tuesday appearance on Detroit sports radio station 97.1 The Ticket, Lions head coach Dan Campbell was predictably and unapologetically his outspoken self.
“What happens is, you get used to eating filet — and I’m talking all of us — and everything’s good,” Campbell explained, as shared by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “Life’s good, you know? But you forgot what it was like when you had nothing and you ate your [expletive] molded bread. And it was just fine. And it gave you everything you needed. And sometimes you gotta get punched in the mouth and remember what it used to be like to really appreciate where you are. And we’ll do that.”
Neither Detroit fans nor Campbell’s players would expect a different response to setbacks from the coach, who famously said during his introductory news conference back in January 2021 that his Lions would ultimately be willing to “bite a kneecap off” to get where they wanted to go.
Of course, Campbell likely didn’t think at the time that his defense would ever get so decimated by injuries that he’d attempt an onside kick with roughly 12 minutes remaining in regulation of a game just to keep that unit off the field.
Campbell’s gamble didn’t pay off against Buffalo, but logic suggests his defense wouldn’t have stopped the Allen-led offense in the fourth quarter. Against the Lions, Allen passed for 362 yards and two touchdowns. He also added 68 rushing yards and two scores on the ground.
As of late Tuesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Allen as the betting favorite at -900 odds to win the MVP Award.
“And so, we got bad tastes in our mouth,” Campbell continued during Tuesday’s interview. “We got kicked around the other day. We
lost a few guys. And you know what? It’s exactly what we needed. This is exactly what we needed. So
we’re gonna bounce back. We’re gonna respond. We got guys who are about to have an unbelievable opportunity here. And we will play the game any way needed to win.”
On Tuesday, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Lions and 12-2 Philadelphia Eagles as the co-betting favorites to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIX. Knowing Campbell, he may use that information as bulletin-board material leading up to Detroit’s game at the 4-10 Chicago Bears this coming Sunday.
