Lions HC Dan Campbell Assigns Blame After Rough Vikings Loss
The Detroit Lions had a chance to make a statement after their bye week, facing a struggling Minnesota Vikings team with an opportunity to make a move toward the top of their division.
But the Lions fell flat in the 27-24 loss, struggling through all three phases of the game and losing in quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s return to the field. After the game, Lions head coach Dan Campbell assigned blame for the team’s failures — saying much of it fell on him.
Dan Campbell Says He Didn’t Have Lions Ready
Campbell called the loss “probably one of the worst games we’ve played in a while” and noted that the team looked lost after a week of extra rest. He put the blame on himself for failing to get the team ready for their division rival.
“We looked rusty… that’s evident that I didn’t have ’em ready,” Campbell said, via SI.com.
Campbell often praises “complementary football,” saying that team successes on defense and special teams set up the offense for success, and vice versa. He said it was the opposite on Sunday, with the team struggling through all three phases of the game.
“We did everything we needed to do to lose that game. We made every critical error you need to at the right time to lose it. Perfect storm,” Campbell said. “When you don’t play well in all three phases, that falls on the head coach. I did not have them ready coming out of the bye. We made too many critical errors, man. Some of our discipline, our penalties caught up to us. We never looked comfortable and we just didn’t make enough plays. We had multiple opportunities to and we made none of them, really. I gotta clean up some stuff up.”
Dan Campbell Not Sounding the Alarm
While Campbell was critical of his team’s performance in the loss, he wasn’t giving in to panic and said all of the issues are fixable. He made similar statements after the team’s season-opening loss to the
“No concern, there’s certainly an urgency with fixing things. … There’s a ton to fix and a ton of things to get better at. It’s a long season and we gotta get to it,” Campbell said.
The Vikings hounded Lions quarterback Jared Goff, sacking him six times even as Goff threw for 284 yards and two touchdowns. Running back David Montgomery lost a critical fumble and the ground game struggled overall, with Montgomery and
The loss robbed the Lions of a chance to jump into the lead in the NFC North after the Green Bay Packers suffered an upset loss to the
McCarthy completed 14-of-25 passes for 143 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
The Lions get a chance to bounce back next week against the Washington Commanders.
Broncos Urged to Trade for ‘Next Level’ $84 Million WR
One of the big frustrations for the Denver Broncos and their fans this season has been the inability of second year quarterback Bo Nix to hit wide open receivers on long, downfield passes.
Even with those struggles, a 6-game winning streak and a 7-2 record headed into a Week 10 home game against the lowly Las Vegas Raiders has done a lot to silence those doubters. But they’re still out there.
So, maybe, the idea should be to get Nix more targets to hit on those downfield routes — specifically another superstar wide receiver to play alongside Pro Bowler Courtland Sutton
The DNVR Denver Broncos Podcast pitched Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle as the player the Broncos should target ahead of the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday, November 4.
“Waddle is the one for me,” DNVR’s Ryan Koenigsberg said on Monday, November 3. “And it goes back to what I said in the first segment about leveling up. Can you find a player, can you find a wide receiver who microwaves the levelinig up process? Each level is harder to get to … and I think that one of the ways the Broncos can help Bo Nix get to the next level is by getting a receive who’s at that next level.”
What the Broncos might give up for Waddle or how they might make the money work is a little more complicated. In terms of compensation, he’s probably worth a 2026 second round pick or 2026 third round pick.
In terms of salary, it’s a lot to bite off — he signed a 3-year, $84.75 million contract extension in May 2024 of which he’s still owed $78.615 million over the next 3 seasons.
The thing is, he might be worth it. And the Broncos are going to be big spenders, conceivably, in every offseason from here on out as the disastrous, $85 million
College WR Group One For The Ages
Waddle, 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, played 3 seasons for the University of Alabama from 2018 to 2020, where he was the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2018, a 3-time All-SEC selection, the SEC Special Teams Player of the Year in 2019 and won a College Football Playoff national championship in 2020.
Even more incredible? He did all that while playing alongside 3 other first round picks at wide receiver. Waddle was taken No. 6 overall by the Dolphins in the 2021 NFL draft —
Dominant NFL Wide Receiver From Start
Waddle had 104 receptions as a rookie and started his career with 3 consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons before career lows across the board in 2024 with 54 receptions, 700 yards and 2 touchdowns.
It’s important to point out the drop off wasn’t really Waddle’s fault.
The quarterback play for the Dolphins has been miserable/despicable over the last 2 seasons. Waddle missed 3 games due to concussions in 2024, the blame of which falls mostly on the shoulders of Miami’s quarterbacks for putting him in dangerous situations.
In 2025, Waddle has been up to more of the same work that has made him an elite NFL wide receiver. In 2025, he has 41 receptions for 586 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Dolphins have stumbled to a 2-7 start — the reason
