Dan Campbell may have inadvertently sent the wrong message to the Detroit Lions fanbase after the team was defeated by the San Francisco 49ers. Campbell expressed publicly, after the stunning loss to San Francisco, that he told his team after the game it may have been its only shot to play in a Super Bowl. While he elaborated he does not actually believe that, players on the roster wondered if their only chance to win a Lombardi Trophy had already come and gone.
Speaking on Pro Football Talk on radio row, Aidan Hutchinson said that Detroit’s head coach quickly changed his mind in exit interviews. The former No. 2 overall pick said that Campbell was driven and that the team would stop at nothing to get to the 2024 Super Bowl.
Hutchinson stated, “I think he was emotional after that game, as we all were.” “We’re going to the Super Bowl next year!’ He says in our exit meetings the day after, so I’m not sure whether he meant those things entirely. Like, “Screw it!” Like, “Whatever it takes, I don’t care!” After the game, you kind of hear it, and it kind of depresses you because you’re thinking, “Do you think that was our only shot?” I believe it was purely emotional. I get it because it seems like you have this 22-week season and you simply lose out despite being so close.
“You’re like, ‘God, it took a lot to get here,’ but I understand. The next day, he kind of came in and gave us this speech that we’re like, we’re all ready to play again right now,” Hutchinson continued. “I felt like on that Monday, and I believe it too, because all the players that we have that are talented on our team are so young and we have so many more years all playing together.”
