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Lions' Campbell preaches fundamentals, consistency after Bears loss
Coach Dan Campbell was asked what the most encouraging thing from the loss to Chicago was - and had an interesting response.
FOX 2 (WJBK) - The Lions are 1-2 since Thanksgiving including yesterday's deflating 28-13 loss to the last-place Bears in Chicago.
In that span the first-place NFC North Division leaders have seen their lead shrink to two games over the Vikings (7-6) and the Packers (6-6) as of Monday. The Lions host the Broncos (7-6) on Saturday.
Coach Dan Campbell preached staying consistent, emphasizing fundamentals and not panicking, in his weekly press conference.
"You don't overreact to, to what it may appear to be man, you just go by the facts," he said. "I've been a part of all of it. I really have. I've been in the lowest lows and highest highs. And inevitably, you just don't always know when and why and what, necessarily.
"But I know this - if you got the right guys, the right coaches, you'll find your way out of it."
At this critical stretch of the season, the Lions' last four games are all against teams with winning records including two against the second-place Vikings that sandwich a difficult Week 17 matchup with the Cowboys in Dallas.
"We start acting like the house is burning down. I mean, it's gonna get worse," Campbell said. "We know what we've got to do. I know exactly what we have to do. And I know this, it all starts tomorrow, we're gonna go back to work."
The Lions committed three turnovers including one fumble and a pair of Jared Goff interceptions. The sloppy play included eight penalties for 59 yards.
Defensively, the Bears out-gained the Lions 336 to 267 and 20 first downs to 13.
More: How to watch Detroit Lions vs. Denver Broncos Saturday on FOX 2
Campbell was asked what the most encouraging thing from the loss to Chicago was - and had an interesting response.
"Here is the most encouraging thing about what happened yesterday: Some of our best players on the team did not play well," he said. "That's encouraging going into this one, because those are prideful guys. And those are our dudes. And believe me, those guys are gonna come back no different than us as coaches to where we're gonna be at our best.
"You know, I just know what kind of locker room we've got, what kind of players we have, and we will respond. We will respond."