Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell spoke to the media Monday a couple days after the Lions were eliminated from the playoffs in the Divisional Round by the Washington Commanders.
Campbell said it was a tough pill to swallow falling short of their ultimate goal of advancing to the team's first Super Bowl and hopes everyone remembers the feeling of watching the Commanders celebrate on their field at the end of that game Saturday night.
"We fell short. It wasn't good enough," Campbell said. "Players are extremely disappointed. I know the fans are. I certainly am. But we will reload, and we will be back."
Campbell said he got a text from wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown at 4 a.m. after the loss Saturday night, and that let him know they have the right kind of players and it gives him hope they're only going to get better and come back stronger.
Here are all the key questions from Campbell's end-of-season presser on Monday:
How disappointing was it to watch that tape back from Saturday night?
"Credit Washington, they did what they needed to do and they played a good game, but a little bit for us, when you feel like, 'You've got to bring your A-game,' I think if we bring our B-game, we've got a chance to win that game," Campbell said. "And we didn't bring that."
More than anything, Campbell lamented the five turnovers and thought if maybe they had just had three turnovers, that game might have ended different, but they just couldn't overcome five of them.
What did Campbell think was the costliest turnover?
It was the first one, the Jared Goff fumble at the Washington 25-yard line when the Lions were up 7-3 and had a chance to take a 14-3 lead.
"We have the chance to go up 14-3, potentially, and we fumble that ball and they go all the way down (and score) and it kind of begins to change the narrative of where you're going," he said.
That was a 3rd & 1 play the Lions went empty set and threw the ball leading to a strip sack, instead of trying to run the ball or give the Commanders at least a play-action option.
"We were ready to go for it on fourth down and we were going to run it on fourth," Campbell said. "We just liked the matchup with St. Brown on (linebacker Bobby) Wagner and it's a play we've run 50 times this year, or something.
"It just didn't work out. It was the perfect storm. It was a little bit of a slip (by St. Brown) and Goff has to choke the ball and he moves up and we get beat on three steps, so it happened fast, and disaster. I'm not second guessing that. If we were going to do it all over again, I'd do the same thing."
Does Campbell expect to lose both his offensive and defensive coordinators?
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn have been popular candidates in this year's head coach cycle and Campbell expects to lose both of them to head coaching jobs, though he said he hasn't been told anything yet.
What will the plan be if both leave?
"Does it hurt to lose those guys? Absolutely," he said. "They are a part of what we've been here. I mean, they have been here for four years. They are one of the major reasons why we've been able to get to where we've been."
Campbell said he and the team will always be grateful to Johnson and Glenn, if they leave, but the train rolls on and Campbell was confident he'll be able to find the next right guys for those jobs.
When it comes to finding a new offensive coordinator if Johnson leaves, Campbell said Goff will have input in who that next coordinator will be.
"This thing is set up for Goff to have success with our playmakers, (Amon-Ra) St. Brown, our running backs, the O-line and Jamo (Jameson Williams)," Campbell said. "I want to keep that in place and keep our terminology in place and I want to make sure Goff is comfortable because he's playing at a high level."
Campbell said whoever he ultimately hires to be his new coordinators, if needed, will be the right fits for the style he wants to play and how he wants it to look. He said they have plenty of guys on staff he thinks are very qualified to transition into coordinator roles, but that doesn't mean he won't take a look at external candidates too.
"I want what I believe is going to be as close to what we've been as possible," he said. "And we don't lose what we're about and our identity. We are going to stay true to who we are. And if you are somebody who doesn't feel comfortable with that then no, this isn't the job for you."
Where does this football team need to improve the most heading into the offseason?
It was a question Campbell was hesitant to go into depth on before doing a thorough self-scout of the roster and then sitting down with general manager Brad Holmes to formulate an offseason plan and decide an area where they both agree they really need the most help.
"I know this, when you come away in hindsight looking at this after what just happened, you're like, 'Man, can we have enough defensive depth? Is that possible?'" Campbell said.
"Because we were loaded, and you don't think about losing one's and two's in every group in there. But you only have 53 spots."
This was one of those freakish kinds of years for the Lions with all their defensive injuries and 13 defenders on IR, including six starters, and then losing another starter in Amik Robertson to a broken arm on the second defensive play of the game on Saturday.
"Brad and I are going to get into that over the next two weeks and we'll really deep dive our roster. Where we feel like we can get better? Because ultimately that's what we want to do," Campbell said. "We want to bring in more competition and that competition has to be right. It has to match the guys that are in that room."
