Detroit Lions increase injury list, Dan Campbell faces new challenge with optimism

DETROIT (FOX 2) - It is a moment many Detroit Lions fans hate revisiting, the gut-wrenching NFC Championship loss back in January. Head coach Dan Campbell told fans climbing the mountain again wouldn’t be easy.

"I know how hard it is to get here. I’m well aware," Campbell said earlier in the year. "It’s going to be twice as hard to get to this point next year than it was this year."

While the Lions, for the most part, have made 2024 look easy with a conference-leading 12-2 record, the injuries have made it challenging. During Sunday’s loss to Buffalo, Detroit lost four more players, including defensive tackle Alim McNeill who knew his injury was serious. On Monday, fans learned it was a torn ACL, which requires season-ending surgery.

FOX 2 also learned defensive back Carlton Davis is out with a broken jaw and running back David Montgomery, the Knuckles of the Sonic-and-Knuckles duo, is down with a torn MCL.

"A lot of these injuries are just kind of freak injuries," said Doctor Christopher Cooke. "These broken bones aren’t the result of fatigue, it's just bad luck the way collisions happen in football. They happen thousands of times a game."

Cooke is the Chief of Sports Medicine at Detroit Medical Center. He’s not associated with the Lions medical team but provided insight on the latest slew of injuries.

"I don’t think it’s an equipment problem," said Cooke. "I don’t think it’s a nutrition problem. I don’t think it’s a function or fitness problem. You could say playing at the end of the season last year opened up to a little bit of risk, but a lot of times, it’s just bad luck."

During his Monday news conference, Campbell welcomed this new challenge with his trademark optimism.

"We’ll bounce back from this," he said. "Sometimes you got to get punched in the face before you know how to respond. Those guys helped us get to this point. So, we owe it to them. They laid it on the line for us."