Ravaged by injuries, the first-place Lions suddenly look vulnerable. What would Dan Campbell say to those losing faith in his team?
Take it away, Coach.
"These injuries can't be in vain. All of those players helped us to get to the point we’re at, and we owe it to them to finish this thing out. That's how I view it. Campbell said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "So, it means there’s another opportunity for other guys.
"And you know what happens? You win 11 in a row and then you lose and the sky falls. And I hate to say it, but we’re not going to be able to win 11 in a row again for the rest of this season. We're just not going to be able to do it. And what happen 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 fu**ing molded bread. And it was just fine, and it gave you everything you needed. Sometimes you gotta get punched in the mouth and remember what it used to be like to really appreciate where you are, and we’ll do that." (Continues below)
"We got a bad taste in our mouth, we got kicked around the other day, we lost a few guys, and you know what? It’s exactly what we needed. We're going to bounce back, we're going to respond. We have guys who are about to have an unbelievable opportunity here and we will play the game any way needed to win. We still got a good offense, we got plenty of defensive players, I could go rattle 'em 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 gotta 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.
"We come out of the game with 50 yards of total offense 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 fu**ing smile from my ear to ear. We're going to find a way and we're going to get it done."