Detroit Lions fans should appreciate what Dan Campbell is building

Going into Week 10 of the 2021 NFL season, the Detroit Lions are looking for their first win of the season. With a new General Manager (GM), Brad Holmes, and a new head coach in Dan Campbell, things have changed quite a bit.

It’s the first time Matthew Stafford is not leading the Detroit Lions onto the field, and eight games in, it’s still a bit strange. Campbell has led this team to battle eight times and failed to find that elusive first win.

However, this is a rebuild and is going to take time, and by “time,” I mean more than just one singular week or a couple of weeks. The Lions have had the cards stacked against them week in and week out with injuries decimating their secondary, tearing down an already worrisome receiving core, and exposing their offensive line.

The best way to put it is that the Lions have had to deal with more than enough adversity when it came to playing the games themselves so far. Not to mention heartbreaking walk-off field goal winners from the Baltimore Ravens and Minnesota Vikings to hand them losses that were so close to being wins.

Fans need to stay bought-in on Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions.

It’s certainly hard to sit here and get excited about a team that is 0-8 week in and week out. But somehow, Campbell is finding a way to keep this group on the right track. There have not been reports of the locker room slipping, reports of the team giving up completely, or anything like that.

Campbell’s ability as a coach to maintain control of the locker room and keep these guys’ heads on straight has been remarkable. They may not have their win yet, but the team keeps pushing for it and grinding out each game.

While they may not look great at all times, there are lapses on both sides of the ball, gaping holes in talent, and the occasional dumb penalty, but they are rebuilding. Even a rebuilding team can find a win.

Campbell is the right coach for this team. Any fans jumping the gun and giving up on this guy are nuts. He’s got this team working harder than Matt Patricia ever did, and they have not even won their first game.

He’s getting these guys hungry for that first win and helping build this team. It’s going to be the long-term here, not the short-term, that gets affected by this type of leadership. Fans need to stay bought-in on Campbell.

Do not bail on Campbell yet; he’ll bite your kneecaps off.