The Dan Campbell experiment is officially underway



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I m 35 years old. There have been a lot of changes with the Detroit Lions in my life. The team is in its 14th coach since the day I was born. It’s been a long way to wait for something to finally click with this team and success to finally be something that is a regular feeling and not just a part-time adventure.

There is something different about this coaching staff and this front office. It’s really strange that the comfort level is up to the mark. After going through the Matt Patricia era, there’s a good chance everything will feel more comfortable than that. Still, the feeling is good right now. Much better than it should be.

New Lions head coach Dan Campbell’s first months on the job have really been quite something. It’s been fun to watch at the press conferences and it’s something Lions fans really enjoyed. Campbell has also said a lot that shows he understands how to be a leader and how to talk to professional athletes. So far, players seem to like it. Of course, a lot of them seem to like him just because he’s not Matt Patricia.

But now the time to talk is over. The real start of the Dan Campbell era in Detroit begins this week with the opening of his first training camp. We saw the man talking and we saw the man being funny. Now is the time to see if the man is ready for the job or above his head. I know it’s been a few months and the OTAs and minicamp have already taken place, but this is where things start to add up to what is happening on the ground.

Training camp will give us a first look at what Dan Campbell really brings to the table in terms of leading this team. I think Lions fans know this full well and are ready for this season to be a little tough. The team is in rebuild mode and the roster is far from ready to really compete in the NFL. But sometimes you can still tell whether it will work or not almost right away.

Just look at the Matt Patricia era. Things went off the rails almost immediately. Not only did the New York Jets come close to snagging 50 on the Lions in Patricia’s debut, things got off to a bad start at training camp, with growls from frustrated veterans. He just looked completely lost from the start, and that obviously never got much better. So there’s a chance we could say that sooner with Campbell.

It will be interesting to see how Campbell handles the pressure, and there is a ton of pressure. The Lions did a pretty comprehensive search and ignored some popular options. He has to prove that he can be the guy who can do something the last 19 Lions coaches couldn’t: build a consistently winning Lions team during the Super Bowl era. Many expect him to reverse the careers of players who really struggled under the previous regime. He has to do all of this while being under heavy scrutiny not only by the Detroit media, but by a national media that had already determined Campbell to be a buffoon by the end of his first day on the job. Dude, this is a pressure cooker situation.

Then there are the fans. How much pressure will they put on Campbell in the first year? He comes to training camp with a ridiculously high approval rating, but how long is that going to last? As we mentioned earlier, this list isn’t ready and probably won’t be for some time. They are a very emotional fan base and they are not known to be silent about how they feel. How long before the boos arrive? How long before Lions fans are turning to social media and radio shows to demand that he be fired? How is Campbell going to handle this?

The experiment is launched. From now on, everything counts and we will finally see if the new era of Lions that feels so good right now will continue to feel good for a long time to come. Or will it just be another fleeting feeling that turns into an all-too-familiar feeling of disappointment?

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