The loss the Detroit Lions suffered at the hands of the Washington Commanders still stings the coaching staff, even months after the fact.
Dan Campbell's team was seeded No. 1 in the NFC heading into the playoffs and earned the top seed in the NFC before suffering that crushing defeat at the hands of the Washington Commanders.
Now, with the calendar turned to April and the team focused on finding upgrades in the NFL Draft, Campbell admitted that the pain of the loss doesn't go away during an interview at the Annual League Meetings.
"It doesn't go away, that'll always be there," Campbell said via the Twentyman in the Huddle podcast. "No different than what happened the year prior, you use that as motivation, but it's important that it doesn't bury you or that you lose confidence or that you have the fight anymore. It's always there as a motivation. I've got it up on my board and it'll be there all year, and it says, 'You failed, own it.' And what am I gonna do about it, what are we gonna do about it?"
Upgrading the roster
Throughout the season, the Lions were battered by injuries to a number of key players such as Aidan Hutchinson, Alex Anzalone and Alim McNeill. As a result, the defense was not close to full strength for the postseason.
Now, with the group expected to be mostly healthy by the start of the 2025 campaign, Detroit has been relatively quiet with its free agent additions. Instead of spending heavily, the team made measured additions to the roster to fill gaps rather than adding stars.
General manager Brad Holmes explained the reason for the team's approach was to prepare and set aside finances for the upcoming extensions the team has. Additionally Campbell believes the team was as good as any in the league when fully healthy last season, and is banking on improving in the draft.
"Yeah we believe that. I think with what we built, what Brad and myself built over these last four years is, we had a team that was as good as anybody," Campbell explained. "We had enough talent, we had the coaching, so we did, we felt good about that. We're gonna look to improve in the draft and add to this, but our goal is every year, we've got a team that can compete and has a chance to win every year."
