The Lions went looking for a head coach in January 2021.
What they found was a culture.
Dan Campbell had written it all down and sent it to owner Sheila Ford Hamp before his job interview. The document packet laid out what he would do as the Lions’ coach, from practical ideas to broad philosophies.
‘‘I read his statement on culture and leadership, and it was like he read our minds,’’ she said after the Lions gave him the job. ‘‘You know, ‘Really? Did someone tell him what to say before?’ He was amazing.’’
The Bears liked Matt Eberflus’ philosophies, too, when general manager Ryan Poles chose him from a group of three coaching candidates in January 2022. His H.I.T.S. system had been successful when he was a defensive coordinator, and now he thought he could apply the standards of hustle, intensity, takeaways and smarts — and the meticulous grading system each coach applies to game film — to both sides of the ball.
Both franchises bucked the leaguewide trend of hiring offensive play-callers as their coaches. Campbell was a tight ends coach. Eberflus didn’t call plays when he was hired as the Bears’ coach, either, but that changed when defensive coordinator Alan Williams left the team earlier this season.
Culture can be a tricky thing, though. Without victories, it’s just a word — a stand-in for real accomplishment when progress isn’t obvious.
Campbell eventually won; Eberflus has not.
In retrospect, the Lions’ decision to hire Campbell looks smart. The Bears’ decision to hire Eberflus doesn’t: He has the worst winning percentage of any coach in team history. Eberflus has five games to try to change that narrative, however, starting Sunday against Campbell and the Lions at Soldier Field. A victory would give Eberflus a signature victory this season, his first winning streak as a head coach and, just maybe, some momentum for a late charge toward respectability.
He always can look to Campbell for some inspiration.
Like Eberflus with the Bears, Campbell won only three games in his first season as the Lions’ coach in 2021. Their second seasons look similar, too: Eberflus is 4-8, and Campbell was 5-7 through his first 12 games last season.
Eberflus is 7-22 through his first 29 games with the Bears; Campbell was 8-20-1.
Campbell’s team turned around at this point last season. The Lions won four of their final five games and are 9-3 this season — atop the NFC North and one game out of the top seed in the conference.
Campbell leaned on culture, then found success. In his introductory news conference, he vowed the Lions would take on the identity of Detroit. They would ‘‘bite a kneecap off’’ and then ‘‘take your other kneecap,’’ he said with a straight face.
‘‘He’s a high-energy guy,’’ Eberflus said. ‘‘He’s got a lot of passion, and you can see that. You can see his fingerprint on that football team. You can see the way they fight all the way through 60 minutes.’’
The Lions’ offense was historically aggressive in Campbell’s first season, even though it wasn’t very good. He went for it on fourth down 41 times, an NFL record for a season. In Campbell’s three seasons as the Lions’ coach, they have gone for it on fourth down 105 times, the most in the NFL.
The ultra-aggressive mindset started off as a gimmick, a way for a bad roster to gain an edge. Now it has fed one of the best offenses in the league. This season, the Lions lead the NFL in plays of 20 yards or more, rank second in yards per game, third in yards per play and fourth in passing and rushing yards per game.
Perhaps Eberflus’ defense is ready to make a similar leap. Unless he can find victories the way Campbell did at this time last season, however, he might not be around long enough to find out.
