The Detroit Lions have won three straight games, and any hot seat talk around head coach Dan Campbell can be put to bed–for now anyway.
After a dismal Week 5 loss to the New England Patriots, the job status of Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell was a legit conversation. Two more, albeit more competitive, losses followed to drop the Lions to 1-6.
It was not a pretty game, but the Lions survived and beat the Green Bay Packers 15-9 in Week 9. Then came a 31-30 win over the Chicago Bears in Week 10. On Sunday, the Lions hit the road again to take on a 7-2 New York Giants squad.
In the best game they’ve played under Campbell, the Lions beat the Giants 31-18. The Giants scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to bolster things for them, as the Lions defense had three takeaways and held Saquon Barkley to 22 yards on 15 carries.
Led by Jamaal Williams’ three touchdowns, the Lions also rushed for 160 yards in the game.
Hot seat talk around Dan Campbell can be put to bed, at least for now
This past week, Campbell landed on a list of NFL head coaches on the hot seat from USA TODAY’s Nate Davis.
"He’s 6-19-1 midway through his second season, and whatever momentum was built by a 3-3 finish in 2021 and some good vibes created during “Hard Knocks” was seemingly squandered by this season’s 1-6 start,”Presently, the Lions have won consecutive games under Campbell for the first time and can extend the streak to three by beating the New York Giants on Sunday. He probably needs to keep things on an upward trend heading into what will surely be a pivotal offseason, when Detroit seems likely to target its quarterback of the future and kick its rebuild into high gear."
The Lions indeed of course beat the Giants for their third straight win, and they did so in a fashion not fully reflected by the score. At 4-6, they are in the NFC playoff picture heading into a short week before they play the Buffalo Bills on Thanksgiving Day.
Beating the Bills will be a tough task. But after that comes winnable games against the Jacksonville Jaguars (Week 13), New York Jets (Week 15), Carolina Panthers (Week 16) and Chicago Bears (Week 17). Preseason predictions of 7-9 wins which once seemed to be gone have a renewed chance to happen.
Campbell is in the second year of a six-year contract, and owner Sheila Ford Hamp has given him consistent votes of confidence in acknowledgement of a rebuild. With those things in his corner, winning enough games to bolster his job security now has to follow. At least for now, on the high of the franchise’s first three-game winning streak since 2017, the heat on the Lions’ head coach’s seat is gone.