Lions HQ: Dan Campbell finally becomes Detroit lions heart” as he made it through to another serious record” he reached a rare milestone for a Detroit Lions’ head coach….
With their victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, the Detroit Lions improved to 3-1 on the season and became one of nine teams in the league with three or more wins after four weeks of play. Dan Campbell’s record as the Lions’ head coach is at 27-27-1 thanks to the victory.
A .500 mark doesn’t sound all that exciting. But since a 4-19-1 record to start his tenure, as Campbell inherited one of the worst rosters in the league and had to build a foundation, the Lions are 23-8 and have become one of the best teams in the league. Including a 2-1 playoff record, Campbell is above .500 (29-28-1) as Lions’ head coach,
Campbell getting to a .500 regular season record early in his fourth season obviously stands out a lot in the realm of Lions’ history. Since the franchise’s last championship in 1957, that lackluster history is well-documented and does not require further elaboration.
Campbell is the sixth Lions’ head coach to last at least three seasons and have at least a .500 record. He is also just the second full-time Lions’ head coach in the last 50 years to have a .500 record, joining Jim Caldwell (36-28 from 2014-2017).
Gary Moeller was 4-3 as the Lions’ interim coach in 2000, but he doesn’t count in this context.
Dan Campbell on track to become best head coach in Lions’ history?
Buddy Parker, George “Potsy” Clark and George Wilson each won an NFL Championship as Lions’ head coach (two for Parker), with better winning percentages than Campbell currently has. Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame Lions’ linebacker turned fairly successful coach (43-34-7 regular season record over six seasons), might also rank above Campbell in the hierarchy of Lions’ head coaches right now.
Before Campbell surpasses Wayne Fontes (66 regular season victories) in terms of total victories among Lions head coaches, there is still some work to be done. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to top Parker’s (.667) and Clark’s (.665) winning percentages.
But Campbell will be considered the greatest head coach in Lions history automatically if he leads Detroit to a Super Bowl victory, or dare we say many Super Bowl victories before he retires.
