The Fords have tried a bit of everything in a nearly six-decade struggle to hire the right head coach.
Joe Schmidt was a arguably the Lions’ greatest all-time defensive player. Don McCafferty won a Super Bowl. Jim Caldwell and Bobby Ross took teams to the Super Bowl, the latter after winning a national championship at, of all places, Georgia Tech. Everybody wanted Steve Mariucci when he departed San Francisco, and the Lions made him, by far, the highest-paid NFL head coach at the time. Harry Gilmer and Marty Mornhinweg were red hot offensive coaches, while Wayne Fontes, Rod Marinelli, Jim Schwartz and Matt Patricia were considered the same on the defensive side. Tommy Hudspeth, Rick Forzano, Darryl Rogers and Gary Moeller cut their teeth in the college ranks.
The above-mentioned Lions’ hires featured disciples of coaching legends such as Bill Bellicheck, Don Shula, Tony Dungy, Mike Holmgren, Bo Schembechler, Paul Brown, John McKay, John Gruden and Marv Levy.
Ultimately, though, they all had two things very much in common: Each petered out, albeit some more quickly than others, with the Lions, and none landed another NFL head coaching gig.
Is Dan Campbell different? The jury is still out despite the overflowing groundswell of enthusiasm generated by the Lions’ impressive 8-2 close in 2022.
Campbell has definitely shown signs he is the Lions’ breakthrough coach.
We tend to pigeon hole coaches into categories, and Campbell has been labeled a “player’s coach.”
It’s because he is a rugged ex-tight end in the NFL, who has the physical stature and verbal tone of a WWE performer. The fact he is a former player, and doesn’t come across as a geek is a plus, seemingly with his players, and definitely with fans in this lunch bucket town.
But Campbell’s modus operandi runs deeper. He is smart, poised and unpretentious. It’s a good formula to get others on his side.
When he made several questionable in-game decisions during his first season-and-a-half, Campbell didn’t blame others. He took his medicine, learned from it and became more efficient. Anthony Lynn was a respected offensive coordinator, but the Lions’ offense was out-of-sync and dull in 2021. Campbell, who has never been a coordinator, took over play-calling. He shortened games with more of a running attack, which benefitted an unusually porous defense. It helped the Lions win three games the second half.
He then identified Ben Johnson’s talent despite a limited resume. He was brilliant his first year as offensive coordinator, both in terms of play design and play calls.
Aaron Glenn is Campbell’s right hand man, an underrated defensive coordinator, who somehow molded the Lions’ underwhelming defense into respectability.
Campbell has benefited greatly from the best back-to-back drafts in Lions’ history, having key players, even younger ones, who are genuine pros, and a mediocre NFC. His predecessors seldom held such good cards.
While whether Campbell can push the Lions to a Super Bowl some day is up in the air, you can sense he has a chance.
At minimum, Campbell has proven it’s unwise to underestimate him, and just might, finally, be the answer.