Dan Campbell wears his passion on his sleeve — especially when it comes to officiating. After Detroit’s Monday night win over Tampa Bay, he referenced a similar situation from the Lions-Chiefs opener, suggesting the refs handled the ruling differently this time around.
Well… the NFL has responded. And according to the league office, Campbell’s memory of that Week 1 moment isn’t exactly how the rulebook sees it.
The NFL stressed that the call in the Lions-Bucs game followed proper procedure and that the Chiefs incident had very different specifics — details Campbell understandably blurred in the heat of postgame analysis.
Fans love that their head coach fights for every inch, every whistle. But this one? The league says the refs got it right, and Campbell’s version of events didn’t line up with the official rule language.
Still, Campbell questioning the system just reinforces the identity of this team: aggressive, unapologetic, and never backing down — not even from the league office.
NFL Clarifies Lions Controversy: Dan Campbell’s Rule Take Wasn’t Quite Right
