SAN FRANCISCO — "Look, I told those guys, 'This may have been our only shot,'" said Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell in a press conference after their loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game Sunday night.
"Do I think that? No...However, I know how hard it is to get here. I'm well aware. It's going to be twice as hard to get to this point next year than it was this year," Campbell added.
The heart-wrenching loss, was made even more difficult by the realization that what the Lions accomplished this season, may not be experienced again anytime soon.
"You want to make the most of every opportunity, and we had an opportunity and we just couldn't close it out. And it stings, it stings," Campbell said about the end of the game.
Campbell's faith in his team is still plenty apparent, but his take on the reality of competing in the NFL is sobering.
"If we don't have the same hunger and the same work, which is a whole other thing once we get to the offseason, then we have no shot of getting back here. I don't care how much better we get, or we add, or what we...it's irrelevant," Campbell said.
Campbell's decisions to go for it on fourth down in the second half of the game have been heavily scrutinized as the reason the Lions dropped a 17-point lead and fell short of their first chance of ever playing in a Super Bowl.
But the head coach stood by his decisions and his overall game plan of being aggressive and not taking his foot off the gas.
"It's easy in hindsight, I get that, but I don't regret those decisions," Campbell said.
And the road back to where their season ended this year, isn't going to be as simple as some people may envision.
"It's gonna be tough. Everyone in our division is going to be loaded back up. And you're not hiding from anybody anymore, everyone is going to want a piece of you," Campbell said about next season.
But regardless of the fourth down calls and despite the sobering message to fans for next season, the Detroit Lions under Dan Campbell accomplished more than anyone thought possible this season.
From the season-opening win over the defending Super Bowl Champions Kansas City Chiefs, to the Lions first NFC North Championships, to the two historic playoff wins in Detroit, the Lions captured the hearts of millions of fans and breathed life into a franchise that hasn't been relevant in decades.
And while you can argue that Campbell's decisions on Sunday may have cost the Lions a trip to the Super Bowl, the biggest takeaway from this season is simply that these are NOT the "same old Lions" anymore.
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