Lions coach Dan Campbell: 'We're out to finish what we started'

USA Today

21-07-2025

"We're out to finish what we started."
It's a simple statement from Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell, said before Monday's practice session on the second day of training camp. But it also serves as a permeating mission statement for the 2025 edition of the Detroit Lions.
The Lions couldn't quite finish out the 2024 season as hoped. The 15-2 regular season collapsed under the weight of rampant injuries across the defense and a talented foe in Washington that didn't know it was supposed to lose the NFC Divisional round game in Ford Field. The 2023 campaign ended for Detroit a game too early, too, with Campbell's Lions unable to hold onto a halftime lead in San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game.
This year is about finishing. Or, as Campbell also said immediately thereafter,
"We're going to close out some of these debts," Campbell continued. "That's the mindset."
It's a mindset smartly espoused by veteran running back David Montgomery after Sunday's practice with his "year of reckoning" comment. Campbell indicated he told the team before camp opened that's the way to keep looking at the coming season, that the team hasn't done yet what it is capable of doing.
Campbell concluded with the following thought,
"No matter who we play, no matter what people think, man, we're going."