The Detroit Lions aren't letting their loss to the Buffalo Bills or the team's mounting injuries affect their confidence.
In a heavyweight slugfest, the Bills came into Ford Field in Detroit and took down the Lions 48-42 on Sunday. The Lions conceded the most points they have all season as their 11 game winning streak came to an end.
Head coach Dan Campbell addressed the state of his team passionately during a local radio appearance on Tuesday.
"What happens is, you get used to eating filet – and I'm talking all of us – and everything's good, life's good, but you forgot what it was like when you had nothing and you ate your (expletive) molded bread," said Campbell on 97.1 Ticket's Costa & Jansen. "And it was just fine and it gave you everything you needed. Sometimes you've got to get punched in the mouth and remember what it used to be like to really appreciate where you are, and we'll do that. We've got a bad taste in our mouth, we got kicked around the other day, we lost a few guys, and you know what? This is exactly what we needed."
The Lions are on pace for their best ever record in the teams 94 year history, led by Campbell's brash persona and hyper-aggressive tactics.
"We will play the game any way needed to win. We still got a good offence. We got plenty of defensive players, I can go rattle them off right now. We're going to put the best 11 on the field. We're going to freaking cut it loose. We're going to play with our special teams and I don't give a crap if we have to win by one point for the rest of the year, that's what we're going to do. And I'm going to be happy about it," said Campbell. "(If) we come out of the game with 50 yards of total offence and we win by one, you're going to see smiles on my face, I promise you. If it's the other way defensively, we give up 700 yards and we win by one point, you're going to see a (expletive) smile from my ear to ear. I can promise you. So we're going to find a way, and we're going to get it done."
The biggest barrier to Detroit achieving their best-ever season and potentially reaching the NFL's championship game for the first time since 1957: injuries. They currently have an entire defensive lineup worth of players sidelined – 13 in total. The long list of unavailable players is headlined by Pro-Bowl pass-rusher Aidan Hutchinson and running back David Montgomery, who is tied for the second most rushing touchdowns in the NFL over the past two seasons.
If the Lions manage to make it to the big game despite their health struggles, they may get some reinforcements.
"I'm on track for my goal of returning for the Super Bowl," said Hutchinson on Taylor Lautner's podcast, The Squeeze. "And so I keep telling all the boys when I see them in the facility, I've just got to get there, and I promise you, I'm going to be back. And my mom was like 'but Aidan what if you don't get back, what if you can't' and I was like; there's no other way."
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