Did Dan Campbell’s ‘2 weeks’ comment imply Rams loss?

Lions head coach Dan Campbell is already planning for game against Vikings

Either Dan Campbell is expecting the Minnesota Vikings to beat the Los Angeles Rams in the wild card round, or he thinks Kevin O’Connell is still Sean McVay’s offensive coordinator. That or Campbell was just trolling O’Connell when he told the Vikings head coach, “I’ll see you in two weeks” after Detroit’s clinching victory in the season finale.

As has been making the rounds in the last 48 hours, Campbell’s words to O’Connell could be words of encouragement for his division rival and an expectation the Minnesota is too good to lose in the first round. Campbell may have had no idea that the Rams were even the team that O’Connell would be facing on Monday.

But could there be a simpler explanation for Campbell’s six-word statement?

After all, the Lions just beat the Vikings in the season finale to clinch the number one seed and a bye week. “I’ll see you in two weeks” is just another way to say, “We get a bye week. You don’t.”

There is no apparent reason for Campbell to hold a grudge against the Rams unless he’s just become that close to Jared Goff. The Lions are 2-1 against the Rams since Campbell took over as head coach in 2021, including last year’s wild card game and this season’s meeting between the two teams.

And Campbell has won five straight games against O’Connell as members of the NFC North. He’s owning the former L.A. offensive coordinator, including 31-9 on Sunday night so “I’ll see you in two weeks” is just as good as “I hope I see you in two weeks”.

Perhaps Campbell’s statement wasn’t a slight to the Rams, but instead hope that he gets to face the Vikings instead of the Rams.

In any case, the Rams are not playing the Lions next week. They’re playing the Vikings. If they want to use this as motivation to beat O’Connell, that’ll do just as well as anything else, but it just doesn’t seem like Campbell was even thinking about the Rams.

Maybe he will be in two weeks.