Lions coach Dave Fipp says the thing that Lions fans already know about Dan Campbell, but the rest of the football world will realize soon

There's this idea that the Lions got to where they got offensively simply because of Johnson, and that Dan Campbell is just a horse he led to water. Just the meathead who got lucky to have Johnson around. 

That's just not what's happening here, and most people who have covered the team for years can tell you that Johnson was detail-oriented, but Campbell supplied the details. Even Johnson will tell you that. 

"He's super intelligent and I've learned a ton from him." Johnson said. ""Each week was its own entity, though, and so it wasn't like you went into the season saying, 'hey, every fourth-and-2, we're always going to go for it.' That was not the case. It just depended on the week, the opponent, how aggressive they were, the weather. There's all kinds of factors that come into play. And so going into the game, yeah, he would have shared that information with me, of man, once we hit midfield, if you can make it fourth-and-3 or less, then, then you're going to have a green light." 

That's Johnson explaining going for it on fourth down with the Lions. It was Johnson's deal to work up the play to get the Lions to fourth-and-2, but it was Campbell who set up all the factors and details surrounding getting to that point, and as Johnson points out, it wasn't based on gut. It was based on knowledge of the opponent and knowing what your players can get done. 

Lions' special teams coach Dave Fipp echoed those thoughts unprompted on Thursday. 

You don't have to believe me or Ben Johnson, or Dave Fipp. If you want to keep focusing on the kneecap stuff and think Campbell is just a meathead, you're welcome to do it. The Lions would probably prefer that teams felt that way. At the end of the day, they're going to see when this team is still very good in 2025.