Dan Campbell has February plans in New Orleans.
The Lions’ coach revealed his team expects to play 11 more games this season — eight regular-season contests, two playoff games and Super Bowl 2025 — while discussing how the team delayed activating trade deadline acquisition Za’Darius Smith for last week’s win over the Texans.
“That’s not an easy decision at all,” Campbell said on 97.1 The Ticket. “We got 11 games left here and we’re going to need him for every one of those and every time we get a little bit closer to the end, they get a little bit more critical. I just felt like it was the right thing to do. Yes, excited to get him going.”
Host Jim Costa replied: “I think we’re all doing the math on 11 games.”
The Lions (8-1) own the NFC’s best record and have the best odds to win the NFC and the second-best Super Bowl odds, behind only the reigning back-to-back champion Chiefs.
If they can hold onto to the No. 1 seed, with Philadelphia (7-2) and Minnesota (7-2) just one game behind, they will only need two playoff wins to secure the franchise’s first Super Bowl trip.
Last year’s team fell one game short of the Super Bowl, losing on the road to the 49ers after blowing a 17-point halftime lead in the NFC Championship game.
Campbell has made it clear to his team that they want the NFC to run through Ford Field this time around before facing the AFC champion at Caesars Superdome.
“Our guys know that, that was one of the things talked about in training camp. You got to work backwards,” Campbell said during the interview. “I’ve said it before, you can’t just keep saying that the end game is the end game. Yeah, we all know that. So now, what do you got to do?
“You got to win your division and preferably you want to be the one (seed). That’s kind of where it goes. That whole focus is the division and getting that one seed. Your odds go up, it only helps you. … That’s what we’re shooting for.”
Campbell has not been shy about referencing his Super Bowl ambitions since he took over as the Lions’ head coach prior to the 2021 season.
He said during his introductory press conference that the Lions would eventually be the last team standing, and before the 2024 season he said “I see Super Bowl.”
Detroit hosts lowly Jacksonville on Sunday to start a relatively light three-game stretch before entering a brutal gauntlet featuring the Packers, 49ers, Bills and Vikings in its last five games.
