Lions coach Dan Campbell: 'The dumber you think I am, the better off we are'

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell knows some people don't think he's very intelligent and he's more than okay with that.

"It doesn't bother me," Campbell told The Athletic. "If you're an opponent, the dumber you think I am, the better off we are."

Campbell, 46, is entering his second season with the Lions after spending the previous five seasons as assistant head coach and tight ends coach with the New Orleans Saints. He also spent 12 games as the interim head coach of the Miami Dolphins during the 2015 season.

Since taking over in Detroit, Campbell has earned a reputation for off-the-wall quotes and passionate press conferences. 

"So this team is going to be built on, we're going to kick you in the teeth, right? And when you punch us back, we're going to smile at you," Campbell said at his introductory press conference last year. "And when you knock us down, we're going to get up and on the way up, we're going to bite a kneecap off. All right? And we're going to stand up and it's going to take two more shots to knock us down. And on the way up, we're going to take your other kneecap and we're going to get up and it's going to take three shots to get us down. And when we do, we're going to take another hunk out of you."

The Lions began their first year under Campbell with a 0-10-1 record through the first 12 weeks. The team finished the season by winning three of its last six games.