Dan Campbell Makes His Stance On Watching The Super Bowl Clear
Dan Campbell wants members of the Detroit Lions to soak up every single second of the Super Bowl.
The Lions came within one possession of making the Super Bowl when the team fell 34-31 in the NFC Championship to the San Francisco 49ers.
It was a brutally painful and gutting game to watch. The Super Bowl and a trip to Las Vegas was so close that fans could taste it.
Then, the 49ers erased a 17-point Detroit lead to punch a ticket to play the Chiefs for the Lombardi Trophy. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows in the span of a few hours.
Dan Campbell will 100% watch the Super Bowl.
Will Dan Campbell be watching the Super Bowl? Detroit linebacker Alex Anzalone revealed in a piece for The Players' Tribune the topic came up with Campbell. The Lions leader will be locked in and he urged Anzalone to do the same.
"No, you gotta watch it, man. Use every second of it as motivation. I’ll sure as hell be watching," Campbell told Anzalone during his exit interview when talking about watching SB LVIII.
The Lions linebacker further wrote, "I can’t help but have this image of Dan sitting in a dark room this Sunday, all by himself, gripping his coffee cup for three hours straight, staring daggers at the TV, just counting down the milliseconds until training camp starts and we can run it back. You’re gonna have 53 dogs out there doing the exact same. You’re gonna have a whole coaching staff doing the same. You’re gonna have a whole city doing the same. This year, it sucks. Next year, it’s us."
Dan Campbell will watch the Super Bowl. (Credit: USA Today Sports Network/Detroit Free Press)
Campbell's outlook is the correct one.
As a fan of the Detroit Lions who suffered the same heartbreak as millions of others in the NFC Championship, I fully endorse and support Dan Campbell's outlook.
It's a bit cringe when players or coaches talk about never watching championship games they're not in. Why wouldn't you watch it? What purpose does ignoring it do?
The answer is that it doesn't accomplish anything. The Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event every single year in America.
It's the crown jewel of excellence in this country when it comes to winning and losing in sports. It should be used as motivation for what players and teams want to accomplish. Campbell encouraging guys to watch it is the right decision. Will it hurt given how close Detroit got to being in Vegas? Yes, and that's kind of the point. Players should want to do whatever is necessary to make sure that feeling doesn't happen again.
Dan Campbell wants the Lions to watch the Super Bowl. (Credit: Detroit Free Press/USA Today Sports Network)
Credit to Dan Campbell for standing tall and encouraging his guys to do the right thing. Let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.