The Detroit Lions had their best season since 1991 last fall, winning the NFC North title, defeating the LA Rams and Tampa Bay Bucs in the playoffs, and advancing to the NFC Championship. But it wasn't as good as it could've been.
Detroit led the San Francisco 49ers 24-7 at the half before surrendering 27 consecutive second-half points en route to a 34-31 loss. Perhaps it eased the sting that the 49ers eventually blew a late lead of their own in the Super Bowl, or perhaps not. Either way, 2023 was a fantastic proof of concept for Dan Campbell and company in Detroit, but it also proved there's still more to be done.
And to illustrate that point, Campbell pointed to Ron Burgundy.
For those unfamiliar with the greatest comedy of the 21st century, Burgundy, played by Will Ferrell, was a beloved 1970s San Diego news anchor with one fatal flaw.
That flaw came back to bite him when his lover/rival Veronica Corningstone... well, you'll figure it out (language warning).
“Those are the little things where we can really grow offensively and defensively,” Campbell said, via SI.com. “Like the awareness of who’s in, what’s the situation. We know what it says on paper, but we can’t do the Ron Burgundy. We can’t just continue to read off the teleprompter. And, that’s the next step, that is the next evolution, because that’s what San Francisco did to us, quite frankly. They played at a different level.”
The irony here is Detroit also struggled to read off their own teleprompter at times. The Lions bungled a 2-point play at the end of their Dec. 30 game at Dallas, resulting in a 20-19 loss. That defeat pushed Dallas into the No. 2 seed and Detroit to No. 3, meaning the Lions would've had to return to AT&T Stadium for a divisional round rematch, but the Cowboys were blown out at home by Green Bay in the wild card round.