Dan Campbell isn't hitting the panic button.
The Detroit Lions (1-1) suffered their first loss of the 2026 season, falling at the Buffalo Bills (2-0), 41-31. On its way to defeat, the Lions' defense looked hapless.
Buffalo rolled up 446 yards of total offense, 34 first downs and the Bills scored touchdowns on six of their first eight possessions before Buffalo knelt out the clock.
After the loss, Campbell addressed the defensive shortcomings head-on.
"Defensively, we knew it was a tall task, but we gave up too much. There was some things in there that we have to get cleaned up. You have to play your best ball to have a chance to reduce points against that team and that quarterback and we did not do that... We've just got to clean up a lot of things on
defense right now, particularly in the back end," Campbell said.
The Lions' sixth-year head coach harped on the importance of his group growing from its shortcomings on Thursday night and from what it's learned about itself in the season's first two weeks.
"Listen, it's early. We're in Week 2. We've got a long season and the most important thing is that we get better. That's it. We just need to get better than we were today in all three phases. We need to play better against the Jets. And I believe we will. We can and we certainly will," Campbell said.
Here was Campbell's full postgame press conference:
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This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: 'We can (play better)': Lions' Dan Campbell reacts to Bills loss
