Everything Dan Campbell Said After Lions Beat Bears

Here is everything Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell said, after his team defeated the Chicago Bears 52-21 in the second week of the 2025 NFL season.

Opening Statement:

“Alright, really, story of the game. I thought we talked about our communication being better – our fundamentals, our technique and then winning our one-on-ones. I’m pretty sure we did that on a consistent basis and the tape is going to say that. I knew the guys would respond. That was good, it wasn’t perfect. We left a lot out there, but that’s a step in the right direction. It’s good to get the first win. It’s good to get the first win of the season. We got explosives that we needed – (Amon-Ra) St. Brown got us going. I thought Jared Goff played lights-out. More importantly, this offensive line played I thought a really, really good game. Protection, run game, they really got us going. And then defensively, man, we get the takeaways – three takeaways. It’s huge, and fourth down stops. So it was just – man you talk about complementary football. We did that and it was a good win.”

On how impressed he was with both the offensive and defensive lines:

“Well, I don’t know if impressed is the right word. I expected us to do that. I bring us back to our standards, those are our standards. And I knew we would play better because our guys came in to work. We knew what we needed to clean up and we worked at cleaning it up. They had the right look and they came out fighting. That’s what they do. So, that’s our O-line and D-line.”

On how the offensive line playing well allows the rest of the offense to perform:

“Well, look, it always starts with the O-line here. It does and I would say probably most teams, and for sure us. When they play well, it really allows us to do a lot. It allows us to do a lot and that’s a prideful unit. There again, we had a couple of young guys in there that I thought played better, and they’re only going to get better the more reps they get. So, that was good to see.”

On the unique dynamic of facing Bears Head Coach Ben Johnson:

“I mean, I don’t know all that. I know this, that was a tough loss last week. That was tough. We went out there, we expected to play much better than we did. We didn’t give ourselves a chance. Green Bay got after us pretty good. I think more than anything that was a big part of it. I think we answered a lot of questions as it pertains back to what you said. I’ve said this all along, this train keeps rolling. We got plenty here and it always is going to start with the players. We’ve got players, we got playmakers and they’re made the right way. They’re the right kind of guys, man. They know how to get in the ditch and just start digging man. They don’t worry about the other stuff. So, it’s a good job.”

On if the team was angry after their loss in Green Bay last week:

“Yeah, I mean – I think, who wants to lose? We don’t like losing, right? It’s one thing – look, a loss is a loss, they all stink. They hurt, but when you don’t feel like you gave yourself a chance, that’s even worse. And we didn’t even compete, doesn’t mean we didn’t try to compete. We never got in a position to where we could compete to finish that game out last week. I think to just get back on track, do what we need to do, that was big.”

On the mindset going into divisional games:

“Yeah, I mean it’s – they are. These are big games. They count a lot and these are the ones you got to get. So, we knew that. I honestly go back to really we made it as simple – I made it as simple as, ‘Let’s just clean up the mess we had last week.’ It’s really not more than that. There’s always going to be this ‘we don’t have the rhythm offensively because we lost Ben (Johnson) or we’re not as good because we lost (Aaron Glenn) AG or this player leaves.’ Ultimately it’s, ‘Do you have the coaches? Yes. Do you have the players? Yes.’ We just got to clean a few things up. Man, ‘Let’s make a better call here in this situation.’ That’ll help the players. The players, man – it’s the footwork, it’s the alignment, it’s assignment, it’s your finish, it’s the – that’s really what we focused on.”

On the aggression of the defense today:

“Well, I just think there again, we play sticky coverage. We play sticky on the back end and we do a lot in the front. Between our fronts and our backers, we give people a lot of different looks. To do that, your guys got to be on point and they got to be sound. (Defensive Coordinator Kelvin Sheppard) Shep gives those guys a lot of leeway now, but that means they all got to be on the same page. But, we’re fortunate we got some bright guys. They’re football players. So when you’re able to do that and you feel like you can – the opponent doesn’t always know where it’s coming from and then you can play sticky on the back end. Man, that’s hard. All it takes is the quarterback holding it for just a tick and you get there.”