Detroit Lions star pass-rusher Aidan Hutchinson explained during an appearance on the “Pro Football Talk Live” program how head coach Dan Campbell called his shot following the team’s heartbreaking 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship.
“I think he, as we all, were emotional after that game,” Hutchinson said about Campbell, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “I don’t know if he meant those things completely because, in our exit meetings the day after, he’s like, ‘We’re going to the Super Bowl next year!’ Like, ‘Screw it!’ Like, ‘I don’t care what it takes!’ Because I feel like I was — you kind of hear that after the game and you get a little discouraged because you’re like, ‘Do you think that was our only shot?'”
Specifically, Hutchinson was referencing how a seemingly dejected Campbell initially suggested to his players after Detroit blew a 24-7 halftime lead over San Francisco on Jan. 28 that the club may have squandered its “only shot” at making a Super Bowl appearance.
Campbell was ripped by numerous reporters and analysts for multiple fourth-down decisions he made against the 49ers in the second half of that contest, but Hutchinson noted how the coach’s final speech of the campaign breathed needed life back into the locker room.
“He gave us this speech that we’re like, we’re all ready to play again right now,” Hutchinson said. “I felt like on that Monday, and I believe it, too, because all the players that we have that are talented on our team are so young and we have so many more years all playing together.”
The Lions were media darlings as far back as last winter after they won eight of their final 10 games of the 2022 season, and they followed that up by posting a 12-5 record that was good enough to claim the NFC North division title.
Hutchinson insisted that he “wouldn’t want it any other way” as it pertains to Detroit no longer being a so-called “sleeper” team.
“I think that this . . . is the tip of the iceberg and yes it does take luck and that good mojo to get back to where we were and to advance farther, but I feel like we have a lot of good, a lot of talented players,” Hutchinson added. “A lot of good guys on this team.”