It’s not how you start, but how you finish, right?

Dan Campbell isn’t perfect, and neither is any head coach in the NFL, but these past three weeks have gone a long way with myself and most Detroit Lions fans. Let’s recap their 1-6 start, shall we? 0-4 in one possession games, multiple questionable decisions late in games and on fourth-down. The Detroit Lions to start the season were a mess, unorganized, undisciplined, and couldn’t make timely plays when they needed to.

D’Andre Swift of the Lions scores a TD in the second half. The New York Giants lost to the Detroit Lions 31-18 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on November 20, 2022.

Fast forward three weeks after their 1-6 start. The Lions are now 4-6, and have reached the highest point of optimism and belief in not only Dan Campbell, but the entire rebuild itself. I’ve been very vocal of my frustrations with Dan Campbell and his football team, especially in his second season, where I put pretty fair expectations on them (7-10 record prediction) before the season.

Built for Games like Today

I expected the Lions to be a “pain in the ass” team to play against before the season, and refused to shoot down any possibilities that this team could win 7,8 or even 9 games. What most of you saw against the New York Giants wasn’t an “any given Sunday” performance, it was everything you should expect this team to embody and deliver on this season. The ability to sustain long drives, milk the clock, run the ball effectively, protect Jared Goff enough to allow deep crossing patterns to develop downfield…you saw all of it today, and that’s a credit to coaching and the players.

Overall, I came away impressed by Detroit’s performance today. The Lions dominated for all four quarters, and forced takeaways against a team that had protected the ball very well (third in the NFL in terms of fewest turnovers) all season long. Good win for Dan Campbell and the Lions, a short week with Buffalo coming to town, and I think it’s fair to say, today’s win was the most impressive win in the Dan Campbell era so far.