The Detroit Lions won’t be in the postseason for the first time since 2022, thanks to the team’s Christmas Day loss to the Minnesota Vikings on the road. The game ended in a harsh 23-10 final score, and with that, the little bit of hope the Detroit Lions had left to play January football went south. Now, the Lions are officially out of the playoffs, according to NFL research, and have to regroup for next season.

As with any team that’s having a rough time, on Friday, December 26, the day after the elimination, there was plenty of finger-pointing to figure out who to blame for the loss. With that drop, the Detroit Lions have now fallen to an 8-8 record and have lost three straight games.

None of this is good, especially considering that Detroit has a talented team. But, even the most talented players need good coaches, and perhaps that’s what Detroit is lacking in the 2025-26 season.

The team’s former offensive coordination, Ben Johnson, is having a fantastic run with the Chicago Bears in his first year as their head coach, and they’re already in the playoffs and first place in the NFC North. So, who should take the blame for the Lions’ troubles?

Leadership means so much for any NFL team, and in a Christmas Day feature for SideLion Report, Jason Kandel emphasizes that Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell has some explaining to do.

In the piece, he notes that after Johnson left for Chicago, Campbell hired offensive coordinator John Morton. But, Campbell took over as the offensive play-caller in early November.

“While that decision initially paid dividends, their over-reliance on the run game and the play-action game was something Brian Flores was easily able to neutralize,” Kandel notes.

It’s true that at first, Campbell had a great game against the Washington Commanders calling the plays, with a 44-22 final score and a win, but Washington had hardly any of their starters, so it should never have been considered a flex at the time. Ever since Campbell has taken over, the Lions have repeatedly tanked.

“Entering the week, Motown was home to the third-best offense in the NFL in terms of both total yards and passing yards per game, and Goff surpassed 4,000 passing yards once again,” Kandel adds. “But he was held to just 197 passing yards against the Vikings since he wasn’t able to use the run game as a crutch.”

Kandel makes the good point that even though quarterback Jared Goff is getting criticism, “the sheer amount of talent around him should usually be able to counter-act” his “defects.”

“But now that the offensive play-calling has been a disaster for the Lions, it’s seen those flaws come back to light,” Kandel adds.

Dan Campbell Talks Detroit Lions Loss

Following the loss on Christmas Day, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell talked about the future of the franchise. “I expect everybody to be ready to go when we get back in a couple of days, be locked in and be ready when we get on a plane to go to Chicago, to be locked in one more time,” Campbell told reporters.

He added, “That’s what I expect. And then we’ll go from there. Brad and I will have a lot of decisions to make, you know, a lot of things to look at. The what’s the whys, the how do we improve? Because we need to improve.”