The NFL 2025 season kicked off in Canton, Ohio, on Thursday night, when the Detroit Lions took on the Los Angeles Chargers in the annual Hall of Fame game to kick off the preseason. Although both teams withheld their most important players from the contest, one looked considerably sharper than the other, with the Chargers going on to win 34-7.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell was not pleased with what he saw from his team on the field after the game.
“You want to win the game, you also want to play really well, and we didn’t do that,” Campbell said, per Pro Football Talk. “I would expect us to play much better next week.”
Campbell was especially frustrated by the Lions’ turnovers.
“We turned it over five times and we didn’t get any takeaways,” Campbell said. “You’re wearing Lions gear, you’ve got to take care of the ball, or it’s going to be hard to keep you around.”
Campbell wants the players who are fighting tooth and nail for a roster spot to be better moving forward.
“The message is, when you get an opportunity to make your plays, you’ve got to make your plays,” Campbell said. “We have to get significantly better. We’ve got to coach them better and they’ve got to play better.”
It’ll be interesting to see how the Lions look in their next preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons on August 8.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.