Dan Campbell’s team did not even play in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs, but the coach still may be 1-0.
Campbell’s Detroit Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings 31-9 in Week 18 to secure the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Though they finished 14-3, the Vikings dropped all the way to the five seed and had to play as the visitor against the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the playoffs.
Campbell had a comforting message for Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell after their two teams clashed. He told O’Connell they would play again in two weeks. That implied O’Connell’s Vikings would win their wild card playoff game.
That message made its way to the Rams, who used it as motivation.
Rams safety Quentin Lake said in the week leading up to the game that he was aware of Campbell’s remarks and didn’t want teams to overlook them.
“I hope they don’t overlook us. Obviously they just played the Lions. There was a little message that Dan Campbell gave. But I don’t want people to overlook us,” Lake told NFL Network’s “The Insiders.”
As if that weren’t enough, the Rams had Campbell’s message printed all over their facility during the week.
There’s a printed screen shot in the Rams locker room above a door of Dan Campbell telling Kevin O’Connell “I’ll see you in two weeks”
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) January 10, 2025
Campbell’s message of support for O’Connell may have very well hurt the Vikings because of the way it motivated the Rams. If that’s the case, the Lions head coach helped determine the outcome of the playoff game even though his team was not participating.
The Lions will host the Commanders in the Divisional Round on Saturday. The Rams will visit the Eagles on Sunday.
