Five games into year two of the Dan Campbell-Brad Holmes regime, the Lions are not where they thought they'd be. Last in the NFC North at 1-4, they are getting passed by their rebuilding peers. And owner Sheila Ford Hamp is frustrated, as you might expect.
She also believes in where the team is headed.
Campbell said he sat down with Ford Hamp during Detroit's Week 6 bye and told her "everything I had looked at with our team that I felt like we needed to be better at" and "where we were going moving forward."
Her reaction?
"She understands," Campbell said Wednesday. "She’s very supportive. But she’s frustrated, and she should be. We all believe that we should be better than where we’re at. But I do know that she’s all-in and I know she believes in what Brad and I are doing."
Campbell and Holmes took over a five-win Lions team after the 2020 season, gutted most of the roster and and won three games in 2021. The Lions are 4-17-1 under their watch. Other teams under second-year head coaches have turned the corner this season, like the 6-0 Eagles, who won four games in 2020, and the 4-2 Jets, who won two games in 2020. The Vikings and Giants, meanwhile, are both 5-1 under first-year head coaches.
Asked if the Lions' rebuild is bigger than he thought, if actual progress has to be delayed until next season, Campbell said, "No, I don't believe that."
"The bottom line is, we haven’t won those close games. We had a chance to win the Philly game, we had a chance to win the Seattle game, had a chance to win in Minnesota and when it came to there at the end of the game, man, we didn’t make that one play," Campbell said.
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The Lions lost by three to the Eagles in Week 1, by four to the Vikings in Week 3 and by three to the Seahawks in Week 4, let down in each case by their NFL-worst defense. Those teams, for what it's worth, are a combined 14-4.
"We’re right there," Campbell said. "We gotta figure out how to make that one play now when we get in those close games. The key is, we can’t let this be like New England was for us when we’re not even in the game."
The Lions were blanked by the Patriots entering the bye, a dose of reality for what had been the best offense in the NFL. They visit the Cowboys on Sunday, then host the Dolphins and the Packers. As November nears, it's high time to start catching up.
In the locker room, the players feel a bit like the owner: frustrated, but faithful.
"They understand the hard times and what we have to do to get through them," Campbell said. "Stay the course and go back to work. There again, we gotta be better today than Dallas is today. That’s really where it starts. That’s where we have to win, during the week. The team’s good, the guys are back, the energy’s good."
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