PALM BEACH, Fla. – There was no time to brood, not with half a coaching staff to hire and free agency to collaborate on.
But even if there was, Dan Campbell had a different view of the Detroit Lions’ divisional round playoff loss to the Washington Commanders.
“You got to be careful if you come out of it and you say, ‘Man, what's wrong? What's wrong with us?’” Campbell said Tuesday at the NFL’s annual spring meeting. “I mean, we did it right. We had 15 wins in a season. We played bad at the wrong time. And so, careful tweaking things. What you got is good enough. We just got to, we got to play better in that moment.”
The Lions played one of their worst games of the season against the Commanders. Jared Goff threw three interceptions. The injury-riddled defense had no answer for Jayden Daniels. And collectively they got out-Campbell’d by Washington coach Dan Quinn.
For the second straight year, the Lions entered the offseason broken-hearted but convinced their blueprint eventually will yield the desired results.
And coupled with major future financial commitments to several of their own players, both currently on the books and still to be worked out, that shaped their quiet approach to the offseason.
The Lions signed one free agent – cornerback D.J. Reed – to a multi-year deal this spring and otherwise focused on retaining the depth players that helped them tie for the best record in the NFL last season.
Both Campbell and Lions general manager Brad Holmes championed the Lions’ method, with Campbell saying Tuesday “it’s been a good offseason” and “we like where we’re headed.”
