Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell wears his emotions on his sleeve, and that's just one of the many reasons why players and fans have come to adore him.
We saw that in the flesh during Campbell's postgame press conference following the Lions' Week 2 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Campbell took blame for the defeat after Detroit's miscue before halftime cost the team three points.
The Lions were in field goal range with eight seconds left and no timeouts and could have gotten three crucial points before the half if they had just spiked the ball.
But before the ball was snapped, the field goal unit ran onto the field, which led to a too many men on the field penalty and a 10-second runoff that ended Detroit's chances of getting three to close out the half.
The miscue proved to be costly, as the three points would have allowed the Lions to win the game with a field goal late in the fourth quarter instead of having to go for a touchdown.
After the game, Campbell fought back tears as he took blame for the loss, according to Nolan Bianchi of The Detroit News.
"I asked for improvement from last week... and we did improve," Campbell said. "We did improve. And their coach cost them. Their head coach cost 'em this one."
Dan Campbell fighting back tears at the podium.
— Nolan Bianchi (@nolanbianchi) September 15, 2024
"I asked for improvement from last week...and we did improve. We did improve. And their coach cost them. Their head coach cost 'em this one."
"100% on me. ... It's not OK."
That wasn't the only time Campbell took responsibility for the blunder, as he also did so during his halftime interview.
To be fair to Campbell, the game never really should have come down to that. After all, the offense made seven trips to the red zone in total, yet the unit only converted on one of them.
But you're never going to hear Campbell put the blame on someone else when he feels like he made the biggest mistake. He's simply not built that way.
