By Moses Joshua 
Detroit’s head coach delivers raw honesty after a costly Thanksgiving collapse
The Detroit Lions walked into Thanksgiving hoping to strengthen their playoff positioning. Instead, they walked out of Ford Field staring at a setback that felt heavier than the final score alone. A tough home loss to the Green Bay Packers dropped Detroit to 7–5 on the season and intensified the pressure on a team fighting to stay in the NFC playoff race.
Yet after the frustration, one thing was clear: Dan Campbell wasn’t sugarcoating anything.
A Tough Day, a Tougher Opponent
Despite some bright moments from Detroit’s offense — including 256 passing yards and two touchdowns from Jared Goff and a breakout 144-yard, one-touchdown performance from Jameson Williams — the Lions struggled to keep pace with a surging Packers team.
Jordan Love, battling through shoulder discomfort, turned in one of his strongest outings of the season. He threw four touchdowns on 18-of-30 passing for 234 yards, using receivers Dontayvion Wicks and Christian Watson as relentless weapons. The duo combined for 174 yards and three scores, stretching Detroit’s defense past its breaking point.
The situation worsened early for the Lions when star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown exited with an ankle injury, adding another blow to an offense already without tight end Sam LaPorta, who remains sidelined long-term following back surgery.
Campbell Speaks: “We dug ourselves in a little bit of a hole.”
After the loss, Dan Campbell faced the media with the same candor that has defined his tenure in Detroit. He didn’t shy away from accountability or from called-out issues that continue to haunt this team.
“Like I told the team, it’s frustrating, I know. We got a lot to be thankful for even after a loss,” Campbell said, before acknowledging the core problem. “And look, we dug ourselves in a little bit of a hole, that’s the bottom line. We are in a little bit of a hole.”
The defining moment of the game came on fourth down — a situation Campbell is known for attacking aggressively. But this time, it was Packers coach Matt LaFleur who leaned into the risk-taking. In what many called a “Dan Campbell move,” LaFleur went for it on fourth down late in the game, converting and sealing Detroit’s fate.
Still, Campbell made it clear that his own approach won’t be changing.
“You always want to convert them, and we had a lot of conversions here. It just didn’t work out today,” he said. Fourth down failure, he stressed, won’t shift his philosophy moving forward.
Eyes Forward: Cleaning Up and Moving On
Campbell’s message centered on accountability — and urgency. With the season tightening and the playoff picture growing more complicated, he made it clear what Detroit must do next.
“All we gotta do is worry about cleaning up this and getting to the next game and finding a way to win the next one in front of us,” he said. “That will be after this day or two here that they’ll get off, that’s what the focus will be.”
Detroit’s margin for error is shrinking fast. At 7–5, they sit third in the NFC North behind the Packers (8-3-1) and the division-leading Bears (8-3). Green Bay’s final stretch includes two matchups against Chicago — games that could heavily influence the division’s outcome.
As for the Lions, their remaining schedule is a gauntlet:
- Dallas Cowboys (Dec. 4)
- Los Angeles Rams (Dec. 14)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (Dec. 21)
- Minnesota Vikings
- Chicago Bears
If Detroit wants in, they’ll have to earn it.
A Season Far From Over
The Lions didn’t just lose a game — they lost ground, momentum, and stability in an increasingly crowded NFC race. Yet if there’s one thing Dan Campbell has proven, it’s that he thrives when the path gets tougher.
His post-game honesty wasn’t defeatism. It was a challenge. A reset. A reminder that Detroit still controls its own story, but only if it cleans up the mistakes that have held it back.
The Lions have work to do — and Campbell made sure everyone knows it.
Now the question becomes: can they respond?