Dan Campbell postgame media availability | 2023 NFC Championship: Lions vs. 49ers

Hear from Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell following the Detroit Lions’ 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the 2023 NFC Championship.

This press conference is sponsored by CURE Auto Insurance.

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Um give those guys you know a lot of credit we knew they wouldn’t go away and uh you know they made the plays um today you know coach Shanahan’s a hell of a coach that’s a team that uh you know they they’ve done it they lived it and

They made the plays so credit to them um I’m really I’m really proud of all all these guys I am I mean and uh it’s hard when you lose that way um it’s hard you know you feel like you get your heart ripped out so um but I’m proud of

That group and I’ll go anywhere with that group and uh you wish you could keep it all together but that’s not the reality so um you know we did some really good things but today we we didn’t do enough and uh and it’s tough It’s questions Dan you um you had two fourth

Down decision decisions that were critical in the the second half neither one was were what two fourth down decisions that were critical in the second half neither one was converted um you know particularly the second one why why not take a field goal there and maybe stem the bleeding a little bit

Yeah I just felt really good about us converting and uh getting our momentum and and not letting them play long ball um you know they were bleeding the clock out that’s what they do um and I wanted to get the upper hand back um um you

Know and it’s easy hindsight and I get it you know um I get that but I don’t regret those decisions and that’s hard you know it’s hard because you know they didn’t we didn’t come through it wasn’t able to to work out but I just I don’t I don’t and I

Understand the scrutiny I’ll get that’s part of the gig man um but you know we just just didn’t work go Dan how do you um process what happened in the second half you know some of the self-inflicted mistakes I guess that didn’t seem to you know come

Up much of the year for you yeah you know it’s been it’s been very uncharacteristic of us we’ve always been able to to get our momentum back and U it’s hard to to say I you know I honestly right now I can’t put my finger

On that that’s not like us um you know we had plays to be made that we just didn’t make we Norm do and you know some of the things third quarter we came out I thought we did a really good job defensively man held them to three and

Then got the ball back moved it you know and um but we just couldn’t we just couldn’t quite make those plays and so third quarter you know we’ve been in there we’ve been there before um and so fourth quarter you’re you feel like we’re going to get it back and we just

Couldn’t quite get over the hump and uh you know and we just that hasn’t been us all year year and it showed up today the worst time Dan uh you did a lot of good things in the first half of this game um you

Got this far I don’t know if a lot of people picked you to come to the NFC title game but disappointing end but what do you what do you learn from this experience I’m sure you hope to get back here you expect to get back here but

What do you learn from this experience of making it this far to this game well you know I think one of the things you always tell everybody who’s never been here particularly the young players is um you don’t know which play is going to make the difference which

One you say that every game but when you get in there with a you know a heavyweight like Sam Fran man um the it is the difference um and sometimes you can only say so much you got to live it unfortunately you got to get your heart ripped out which we did

And it’s a lesson learn and look I told those guys this may have been all shot do I think that no do I believe that no however I I know how hard it is to get here I I’m well aware and it’ll be it’s

Going to be twice as hard to get back to this point next year than it was this year that’s that’s the reality and if we don’t have the same hunger and the same work which is a whole another thing once we get the offseason um then we got no

Shot of getting back here I don’t care how much better we get or what we add or what we dra it’s irrelevant um it’s going to be tough everybody in our division is gonna be loaded back up and uh you know you’re not hiding from anybody anymore everybody’s gonna want a

Piece of you and uh which is fine you know which is fine but um so it’s hard you want to make the most of every opportunity and we we had an opportunity and we just couldn’t close it out it’s it does it stings stings Dan to to go from that high of

The 24 s halftime lead to to how it ended um what is your locker room like right now it it I’m sure you weren’t celebrating at halftime but you obviously were feeling very good the level of crushing I guess for your players yeah it’s tough it’s tough yeah I mean nobody’s

Happy um you know they’re they’re very disappointed you know it’s disappointing and I think I said it pretty pretty vividly it’s like getting your heart ripped out and um it’s hard you know it’s hard and no we didn’t come in and half to nobody we were doing back

Flips like all right we got this thing one they know better we all know better we talked about it we knew they were going to make a run in the second half we talked about it we knew we were going to have to weather a storm in the second

Half and uh so when they started to make a push it no we weren’t surprised we just couldn’t counter back and we’ve always been able to counter back we just couldn’t quite do it in this one what is the message um both in the moment and big picture to a player like

Kindall who is you know on the wrong side of a play like that on the IU catch Listen what we talked about is man you just you you fight every play man and you make them earn um everything they get he was in phase and uh he

Competed and it didn’t work out and you know what that’s life of a cornerback it’s life of a quarterback as well those two positions and uh listen it happens and you you go back for the next and long term you know what that that won’t be the next time that happens

Unfortunately it’s every corner gets put on an island at different times and uh and so you just keep going you just keep fighting and that’s what that’s what I want and that’s what I’m looking for what I don’t want is a player who looks scared and doesn’t uh get up there and

Challenge and uh but a guy who will go up there and mix it up and is afraid of who he’s lined up over um you know what give up play Give Up play nobody feels good about it sir player done but but I know I know they’re

Fighting you mentioned it a little bit in your opening comments Dan um there’s a lot of emotions at the end of a game but particularly at the end of the season can you just expand a little bit more and just knowing that the locker room your coaching staff might look you

Know quite a bit different that the I guess the the challenge of the finale of that yeah I mean it’s it’s hard um you know everything that you I I’m a firm believer in everything’s got to be everything’s got to be right and everybody just thinks that it’s just

Talent or it’s just coach ability and you know the more Talent you get and the just the better coaches or the more well-known then you’re just automatically going to be good and that’s not the truth at all it’s not does it help yeah it helps as long as

They are compatible and there is a chemistry and there is teamwork and there’s an unselfishness and there’s and you you leave the egos at home and uh that’s hard it’s hard to do that and so you set it up well now it’s just going to look

Different and it’s got to be right again it’s got to be right some of the players potentially some of the coaches man we got to start over and we got to find the right mix the right balance and uh it’s got to be right because otherwise you don’t I I just I’m

A firm believer you don’t have a chance if it’s not you’ll become average quickly it’s probably it’s probably too early in the uh you know the moment right after a game like this but at what point do you think if at all you’ll be able to appreciate what you guys accomplished

This season getting here the the amount of success you had leading up to tonight that’s tough um and I I’ve said that word a lot tonight um and I just I hate it I should not you know you’re asking me right now and I feel like we’re no different any body

Else you know and that’s what unless you’re the Super Bowl winner that’s what this feels like it’s hard and uh we did accomplish a lot but there’s just you know there’s a piece in me that I just feel like we’re you know a little bit like every everybody

Else who didn’t make it you know and everybody else who lost unless you’re San Francisco and who won the other one I don’t even know KC then you you got a pretty bad taste in your mouth and um it’s what’s great about this sport what’s great about the game

It’s what’s great about the tournament and it’s also what just crushes you Dan the coming out halftime you get the a catch and the fumble that like a double gut punch you could never see coming no I mean look we knew they were going to make a play I mean you’d like

To believe that it’s not going to be that but you know I don’t um we knew they were going to make some plays you know it was it was just a matter of time and I don’t care how good you’re playing you know auk’s a good

Player and pretty does a good job of giving those guys a chance to make plays KD’s a good player Debo’s a good play so at some point you knew something was going to happen you just you got to be able to answer back and you got to be

Able to contain it and and we weren’t able to do that Dan uh you mentioned the heavyweights like San Francisco you referred to them that way do you think in the second half the fact that they have been there before they played there before and your team as a team even

Though you had some guys who been there before as a team had not did that start to come into play especially when things start swirling around and going against you look I you know it’s hard to I can’t dispute that but it’s hard for me to believe that because we’ve been in

Really big games all year and I know it’s not the NFC championship game but we’ve been in two playoff games we’ve been in plenty of Prime Time games Big Time opponents where we’ve been able to you know we’re I just we’re always able to get the momentum back and and we just

We couldn’t do it today you know and that’s what it so I I don’t want to believe that but the same token it’s there and we just didn’t quite make those plays