Despite Poor Record, Lions Still Believe 'We're Close'

Dan Campbell was asked this week about the team's lack of success in 2022.

The Detroit Lions are dismissing any notion the organization has no expectations for the 2022 season. 

When some peel back the layers, it can be natural to assume the team is intending to lose, when several players with injury history are drafted and the top free agent acquired, wideout DJ Chark, was also coming off of an injury-plagued 2021 season. 

Supporters spent the bye week admiring the success of team's like the Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets and New York Giants, who all possess a better record than the Lions to start the new NFL season. 

Teams with a better record with similar or lesser talent than Detroit has caused many to begin to question if the coaching staff is really the issue -- preventing the win total from being higher than it actually is. 

Head coach Dan Campbell was asked Wednesday about the difference between the Lions and similar young teams that have seen early success recently and if the team was just looking ahead to 2023.  

“Yeah, I don’t believe that, and look they -- the bottom line is we haven’t won those close games," Campbell explained. "We had a chance to win the Philly game, we had a chance to win the Seattle game, we had a chance to win in Minnesota. When it came to -- there at the end of the game, man, that one play, we didn’t make that one play. 

"And so, we’re right there," Campbell continued further. "We’ve got to figure out how to make that one play now when we get in those close games. The key is, man, we can’t let this be like New England was for us when we’re not even in the game. We’ve got to give ourselves a chance to get back in it. You’re in it the last two minutes of the game, you’re either in two-minute or four-minute. And then, you’ve got to come away with those wins and that’s what we haven’t done. But we’re close.”