Pride of Detroit
Thus ends the Detroit Lions’ 2025 campaign. The dream was dying after a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, but it is officially dead following the Christmas Day loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Detroit has fallen to 8-8 on the season, an embarrassing and disappointing fall from their 15-2 season the year prior.
The Lions still have one game left to play, but it matters little besides pride for a prideless team. Officially, there are winners and losers from this game, but as a whole, the entire Lions organization is a loser this week and this year.
The captain goes down with the ship. In what has been a season to forget for the Lions, Campbell must shoulder the brunt of the blame. The offense had seen a slight resurgence when he took over play calling duties from John Morton, but any positivity went out the window on Christmas Day.
From top to bottom, the offense was dreadful. Jared Goff had an awful performance (more on that later), but the recurring theme of the day was incompetence. The passing game was incompetent. The run game was incompetent. The decision-making was incompetent. Brian Flores outright dominated this game and it made Campbell look like a high school coach coasting on bravado. One of the major failures this season comes down to the decision to hire Morton as offensive coordinator. Not only did he fail in his coordinating duties, but it forced Campbell to take over a role he did not want, nor is he cut out for.
Next week’s game against the Chicago Bears will be telling. Do the players show any fight, or has everyone given up on the 2025 campaign? Part of me wants the Lions to sit important players like Penei Sewell or Amon-Ra St. Brown—why risk them in a meaningless game?—but I equally know that Campbell is not the type of coach to wave a white flag. Normally that die-hard attitude is a positive, but it could be a negative next week.
I fully understand why Goff struggled against the Vikings, but understanding is not excusing. Goff was under fire all game—per PFF, the Vikings recorded 20 pressures on just 34 dropbacks. However, Goff completely collapsed when the team needed him most. He committed two brutal and uncompetitive interceptions, while also getting dinged for three lost fumbles, though not entirely his fault. Goff’s longest completion was 28 yards, highlighting both his inability to push the ball downfield and the lack of time for deeper routes to develop.
Regardless, those are five turnovers that came at the hands of Goff and fundamentally changed the outcome of the game. The Vikings had 161 yards of offense—ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE—and still managed to score 23 points. The Lions were in a perfect situation entering this game, with Minnesota having to lean on undrafted rookie Max Brosmer at quarterback—the goal was to force him to push the ball downfield. Instead,...
