Lions Looking to 'Recalibrate', Quintez Cephus Will Remain on IR

Detroit Lions are looking to get back on track against the Chicago Bears.

The Detroit Lions have overachieved during the 2022 season in a certain capacity. Though the team was expected to be improved from last year’s 3-13-1 squad, the team has found its way to be in playoff contention, heading into the final two weeks of the season.

Heading into the organization's Week 17 matchup with the Chicago Bears, Lions head coach Dan Campbell knows his team still has a chance to find its way into the playoffs. Coming off a tough loss to the Carolina Panthers, he’s got the team focused on getting back to its recent winning ways.

He was non-committal about whether or not he’d consider the season a success if the team didn’t make the playoffs, stating that he was focused on the upcoming week.

More: 3 Detroit Lions Burning Questions

“I’m not even gonna get into that, just until this thing is done, just because of where we’re at,” Campbell said. “To me, success would be winning this game right now. To bounce back after a tough loss and get back on track and to me, this is our recalibrate week. We’re gonna recalibrate, man, because we were doing some good things, we found a pretty good spot in what we were doing and how we needed to do it. And, we got a little out of line.

“So let’s do a little realignment, recalibration and go back to work, because we’re not far off. As bad as some of it was, it’s honestly, you’re not as bad as it appears to be, too. It’s like I told the guys this morning, forget this, forget anything else, the work is on us and Chicago. It’s got to be, it’s gotta be. And then, you do that and give yourself one more week to see where you’re at.”

Campbell reflects on lessons learned from Payton

When Campbell finds himself in a pinch on the sidelines coaching the Lions, he often draws on inspiration from his mentor Sean Payton.

After working with Payton for five seasons with the New Orleans Saints, he developed an understanding of how the coach would react in key moments.

“I think you, those things will always be part of who you are,” Campbell said. “You’ll always take that with you and certainly the best parts of it. I learned a lot of valuable lessons under him. He’s one of the better coaches in this league for a reason, and I think, one of the best offensive minds in football that I’ve ever been around, bar none. He’s something else, but he’s also a grinder. I mean, he worked now, he worked like no other and sometimes, I didn’t know what, he’s superhuman. He did it, there were things, it was unbelievable. But, you do, you take those lessons from him, you see how he reacts to certain situations. He was unbelievable, man.”

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Quintez Cephus will finish 2022 season on IR

Campbell announced that wide receiver Quintez Cephus would not be re-activated for the remainder of the regular season.

Cephus has been out since suffering a foot injury in Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks. He was placed on injured reserve, and returned to practice on Dec. 7. But, he was not activated for Detroit’s last three games.

With his 21-day return-to-practice clock set to expire, Campbell said the wideout would not return to action.

In more recent injury news, safety DeShon Elliott remains day-to-day, and Jamaal Williams will return to practice Wednesday.