Dan Campbell Says Lions Hit 'Rock Bottom' against Patriots

Dan Campbell says the team has hit rock bottom, after a disappointing loss to the New England Patriots.

Matt Patricia left the Detroit Lions as a disgraced head football coach. 

For an afternoon at least, the team that is still compensating him had to sit back and watch as he crafted a solid offensive gameplan for a rookie quarterback. 

Patricia is still being paid by the Lions. But, on Sunday, it was he and the Patriots who had the last laugh, as the team improved to 2-3 with a 29-0 shutout victory over the Lions. 

"We weren't good enough," Dan Campbell said, when asked about not converting on fourth down. "That's an area we've been pretty good. And, I mean, when you're not able to convert those, you're going to struggle offensively. So, too many times we weren't efficient enough on first down. I did think we got some manageable downs, but we just we couldn't convert them. It was one of those days. Our offense has been pretty steady, you know, played pretty well. And, this was the day we we didn't do well. We really never got in a true rhythm, and we couldn't convert so we could stay on the field." 

Fans are not really all that surprised with this latest letdown performance. 

If you have followed the team for any length of time, you have seen some pretty awful football. 

Penalties, mistakes, mental errors, turnovers, costly decision-making. All aspects of bad Lions football was on display in Week 5 in the shutout loss. 

Heading into the bye week, Campbell noted that this was "rock bottom" for his team. 

"Look, you just you be honest with them. You tell them exactly what it is. To me, it's about as bad as it gets. This is the worst. This is where we're at. And sometimes, it's going to get bad before it gets better," Campbell said. "And, I believe we hit rock bottom. So now, the only place to go is back up."

The bye week will present the team an opportunity to get healthy and for the coaching staff to take an even deeper dive into all the issues plaguing the team. 

"We're going to get some guys back. I got to look at everything top to bottom, which I have time to do for the bye week," Campbell said. "And, look, I've seen it too many times. I've been in this league too long as a player and a coach. I've seen teams that started out rocky and it's doom and gloom, and then all of a sudden, they win one and then they win the next one and then they win the next one (after that)."

The Lions (1-4) next take the field in two weeks, against the Dallas Cowboys on the road.