Lions coach Dan Campbell grades his season as a 'freaking F' after missing playoffs
Dan Campbell graded his performance this season in a way that only he could.
Not good enough. We didn't get in, we underachieved," Campbell said on Monday, one day after the Lions' season officially ended.
So, not good. I'd give myself a freaking F."
While that's harsh - and a little unfair, considering it could have been a lot worse - it's easy to understand why the Lions head coach feels that way.
The Lions, who beat the Chicago Bears 19-16 on Sunday afternoon after Jake Bates hit a late field goal, finished the season at just 9-8. They missed the playoffs for the first time since 2022 and were eliminated from postseason contention after their loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 17.
That's quite the fall-off from the last two seasons. The Lions went 15-2 last year and earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and they went 12-5 the year before and reached the NFC championship game.
The Lions opened the season winning four of their first five games, but they completely fell off after that. The team failed to win consecutive contests after that, and then entered Sunday's game having lost five of their last seven to drop well out of the NFC North race.
"It's hard to believe that this is it," Campbell said. "It's going to be a hard pill to swallow watching these teams in the playoffs. But I think you've got to watch them. You've got to force yourself to do it because that's a drive to want to be there, be a part of it."
Campbell just wrapped up his fifth season with the Lions. Even though they'll be watching from home, he's responsible for leading the team to the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since the mid-1990s and the only stretch of consecutive seasons with double-digit wins in franchise history.
Campbell hasn't yet revealed what changes, if any, he will make with the coaching staff this offseason. He said he'd need a few days to think about that, at least. The Lions also hold the No. 17 pick in the draft in a few months.
While the end of the season was disappointing, Campbell doesn't think the team needs anything close to a full reset this offseason. In his eyes, they are right there.
"Now, we fell short this year and look, we all acknowledge that. I know I acknowledge that. It's bitter. It's a bitter taste," Campbell said. "I mean it feels good to win yesterday, but ultimately, it's frustrating.
"But we've got nobody to blame but ourselves. But I really don't believe we're that far off. There's a couple of things we can do, and I just want to make sure we go after it. I'm not saying we weren't hungry, but let's get that hunger back and we're going to bring in some guys to compete."