Lions coach Dan Campbell is thinking only about beating his former offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, today.
Asked about Johnson, who was Campbell’s assistant for four years before getting hired as the Bears’ head coach, Campbell made clear that he fully expects his Lions to beat Johnson’s Bears today.
“Ben’s my friend. He’s always going to be my friend. But nothing about that’s going to change,” Campbell said, via the Detroit News. “We’re going in, getting ready to play Chicago. We’re going to win this game. We have to.”
It’s a big game for both head coaches: Johnson blundered the clock management in his head-coaching debut in a Monday night loss to the Vikings, and another loss would drop the Bears to 0-2 and raise questions about whether Johnson is made more for being an Xs and Os coordinator than a head coach.
But for Campbell’s Lions, an 0-2 start would be even more disappointing. They entered the season with Super Bowl aspirations, and starting the season with back-to-back losses against division rivals would make the Lions the NFL’s most disappointing team through two weeks.
Campbell is right that the Lions have to win. Whether he’s right that they’re going to win, we’ll find out in a few hours.