With the Lions having sold out of season tickets for the first time ever at Ford Field, you might think that Dan Campbell is feeling the weight of expectations. But then, you wouldn't know Dan Campbell.
"No, I don’t feel weight. I feel wind underneath my freaking wings, man. That’s what I feel. Truthfully," Campbell said Saturday.
This is what Campbell signed up for, the chance to give these fans a team to believe in, to deliver a winner to a town that deserves it. Before he'd coached a single regular season game in Detroit, Campbell could feel the hunger of a fanbase that's tasted just one playoff win in the Super Bowl era. He said that Ford Field, which roars at full capacity, "can be every bit of" the Superdome, one of the NFL's loudest stadiums where Campbell had spent the prior five seasons as assistant head coach of the Saints.
"Not every stadium can be that way," Campbell said before the 2021 season opener, "but I know this place can be that and then some."
Then the Lions finished last in the NFL in attendance with barely 50,000 fans per game, their lowest mark since 2009 when they were coming off an 0-16 season. Two years later, they can expect a sell-out every time they take the field in Detroit -- and the fanbase can live up to Campbell's words.
"I love this, man. This is outstanding. I love our fans. I love that they feel it like we feel it," Campbell said. "And no, this is not a burden. This is not pressure. This is not weight. This is man, this gives me inspiration. That's what it does for me and our guys.”
The fans were whipped into a fervor by the Lions' 8-2 surge to close last season, cresting in a cathartic win over Aaron Rodgers and the Packers at Lambeau Field -- with the whole country watching. Then the Lions went out and upgraded their roster in free agency and the draft, and now they're being picked to win their first division title in 30 years. Even Campbell said at the start of training camp that the "hype train is out of control right now."
But as he reiterated on Saturday, that's just fine. Better to have to live up to expectations, than overcome doubt.
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