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Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is seen during the second quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Everything Dan Campbell Said After Lions Loss to Rams

Originally posted on Detroit Lions on SI
By John Maakaron | Last updated Dec 15, 2025 9:57 AM ET

Here is everything Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell said, following a 41-34 loss to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.

Opening Statement

All right. Third quarter was was rough on us, you know. They got a jump on us that we couldn't overcome. (Puka) Nacua had a huge day. We couldn't slow him down. (Matthew) Stafford played at a really high level, which we knew he would, if we we couldn't disrupt him. And more importantly, stop the run. We weren't able to do that. They they were able to break through there and grind it out, which made it very difficult on us. And then, you know, we left three out there on the field goal. And then we didn't, you know, we could have scored touchdowns, man. You get in a game like that, knew we were going to need some points, and we weren't we weren't able to get enough there in the third-quarter. We got to be able to stop the bleeding offensively. We weren't, we never got our run game going. I thought (Jared) Goff, I thought (Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint and (Jameson Williams) Jamo played their tails off, man. I thought they played at a really high level. Gave us a chance, but we just weren't able to overcome some of those things. We knew that team didn't make mistakes. And so, it cost us. We just weren't, we couldn't do enough.

What is message to the team after losing?

Well look, I don't even know what happened, I mean, I just found out after the game about Green Bay and all that. So, you know, my message was don't go numb to when you get these losses. You know, the win, lose, win, lose. Like we got to get out of that rut, and it can't be okay. It should burn at you, you know? It should eat you up. And do not go numb to the losing. All right. The staff and I, we're going to come in, we're going to watch this thing together tomorrow. All of us, in all three phases. Watch everything from top down. The players, ourselves. Make those corrections and then move on. It's as simple as going back to work. We got to get better with Pittsburgh coming into town. We got to play better. An now we know, you now have firsthand knowledge of what probably the top of the NFC looks like right now. That's them. So now you know what it looks like. You know what it is. And we're not there right now. Doesn't mean we can't be. But now we know what it looks like. And you got to get better. We got to get better. We got to move on. Can't sulk about it, can't feel sorry for ourselves. We make the corrections and we move on.

What occurred during third quarter struggles?

Really, we couldn't, I think more than anything, we really just couldn't get the run game going. That was going to be important and that that one hurt us. We got a holding call, which made it difficult. Some of those, you're just trying to get in 3rd-and-5. We were in 3rd-and-10, third and long. Trying to run the ball, you get two yards, and it just makes it difficult. We weren't able to overcome that. You can go back, well maybe you should have just thrown it and quit trying to do some of those or, you know, you go back and forth. That'll be things that I look at myself, as to, man, could I have done this? Should I have done this better to help these guys out? But the bottom line is we we weren't able to convert. So then, we strung the defense out, and then all of a sudden it flips. You're up 10 or down 10. That was a rough quarter for us.

Are the inconsistencies on defense part of the reason for the last two months being up and down?

Yea it's frustrating. Yeah it's frustrating. But it's also because we're better than that. I know we're better than that. And look, I knew we were going to need to score some points. That's a good team. It's a good offense, good quarterbacks, all of it. You know they got weapons. This 12 is a hell of a player, man. But we're better than 41 points, you know. Now, it's on the scoreboard. That team over there earned it. They put it up there. So, you can't take that away from them. But, there's just little things, some of the things like fit in the run, we didn't do good enough on the perimeter. Everybody had a hand in that. And then, once they're able to run the ball with what they've got, it just makes it extremely difficult, extremely difficult.

What went into the decision to not attempt an onside kick at the end of the game?

Yeah, I don't know. I don't have an answer for you right now. I just felt like, you know, two timeouts in a two-minute.

Can you explain the challenge that you weren't able to challenge?

They said that I cannot challenge that, because it's not line to gain. But it was, you know, it was wrong. Which they corrected. So I won the challenge, but I lost my time out.

What was the explanation for the Colby Parkinson touchdown in the end zone?

That the call stands.

Do you feel you had enough variety in your play calling?

Well, when you can't get the run going, it does, it limits what you can do and what you're trying to do off of it. I don't regret one bit getting the ball to to St. Brown and Jamo. I have zero regrets about that. But we got to get the run game going. We got to be better and we can be better.

On the decision to go for it on fourth down on the Lions own 29-yard line?

Yeah, I just, I felt really good about it. I knew we'd get it. I felt very confident about it. And I knew the players would execute. I felt like we would have the right look, and it worked out. You know, if it doesn't, then yeah, I'm in trouble, right. So, that's the story of every week.

On the mood of the locker room?

Yeah. Well look, I think they're there like anybody else. They're frustrated. They don't like losing. I mean, these guys, you know, they don't. But I go back to this, the core of this group, they're the right guys. And they've been through this. I mean most of those guys know what the dumps looks like, and we're not in the dumps. But they know what that was like. Back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back losses. You don't ever want to even get a taste of that again. It's just important that nobody gets that way, particularly the young guys. Because they don't know, some of these guys don't know any different, the rookies, the second year players, especially if all you've done is won. You just don't want them to to ever get into that mode of, 'Well, you're just playing for the next week.' You're just kind of playing and you're going through it. And you're just trying to make your own way. You can't, man. This thing has got to burn at you. You have to have urgency to to correct your errors. And we do, collectively as a team.

What gives you confidence the team can finish 2025 with three straight wins?

Yeah, I just mentioned it, man. The guys on this team, I believe in the guys on this team. The character of the players on this team. Our captains, the core of it. And there again, we needed to play a close to perfect game. We were not able to play perfect enough. All right. We made too many errors against that team. Which against some other teams, would have been enough. It's not against that team. But I know we can do it. These players know we can do it. You go back to work, man. I don't believe for one second anybody's lost confidence. We just know we're doing a good job of taking care of the ball. We're getting some takeaways. We need to get a couple more. And then, we got to play for three quarters, man. We got to play high level. Excuse me, four quarters. Instead of that third quarter, that was a stinker. We got to do it for four. So, we got three to go here. We don't control our own destiny, but we need to win these three. And it starts with Pittsburgh at home.

This article first appeared on Detroit Lions on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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