Peyton Manning Shared His Encouraging Text to Dan Campbell After Lions' Playoff Exit

Manning sees a lot of his Colts in the Lions.

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell speaks to members of the media at the Detroit Lions practice facility in Allen Park on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, following his team’s NFC divisional playoff loss. / Ryan Garza / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The best regular season in Detroit Lions history was quickly erased when a depleted defense could not stop Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders in a home playoff game. Dan Campbell's rebuild has been super impressive but the Lions have fallen short of the Super Bowl in two consecutive years. It's a situation that reminds Peyton Manning of his Indianapolis Colts in the 2000s and, as such, he reached out via text to the Lions coach to offer encouragement after the early postseason ouster.

“I said, ‘I know how you feel, I’ve been there, and it’s not a good feeling,’” Manning said in an interview at an event on Monday night. "'Understand that, but we did win the whole thing the next year.' You just kind of keep sawing wood."

Mannning's 2005 Indianapolis Colts raced out to a 13-0 start and secured the AFC's No. 1 seed. All of their momentum was quickly extinguished in the divisional round as the No. 6-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers walked into town and emerged with an upset. This year's Lions went 15-2 and, like Indianapolis, were aiming to capture the franchise's first Super Bowl.

“That was the kind of loss that could probably make an organization say, ‘Let’s change everything. … Let’s kind of blow the whole thing up and start over,’” Manning added. "Or your organization and owner can say, ‘Hey, we’re doing something right, let’s keep going.'"

It's a nice message but in reality the Lions will have to start over in a meaningful way. They lost their two coordinators—Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn—to head coaching positions and will have to find a third consecutive year of success, something completely unprecedented for the franchise over the last 70 years.

On the other hand Campbell seems like a guy who would really enjoy the process of sawing wood. We'll see how far this advice from Manning propels the Lions.

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