Dan Campbell isn’t a Detroit native, but he sure feels like it.
In a new interview with The Ringer, Campbell discusses his love for Detroit and why he feels like he’s finally “home.”
“There’s this small handful of teams that I’m like, ‘I belong here,’” Campbell tells the publication. “This was at the top of the list because I’ve been here and I remember as a player thinking, ‘God, if you could ever win in Detroit? Oh my God.’”
“Everything about this place,” he adds, “the bubble burst, housing, it hit everywhere, but it hit here, and then the auto industry, man, takes a hit and the Lions have sucked for 30 years and they’re always the joke, year in and year out. ‘Oh, the Lions’ and this narrative. I just feel like this place fit me, man. It really did. Like I belonged. That I literally fit like a glove in Detroit. They love the Lions, they love football, and this place called out to me. It was like, ‘You know what? You need to let these guys know what you’re about, that you understand their own pain.’”
He’ll have his chance to prove he can win soon. The Detroit Lions will open the 2021 regular season at Ford Field taking on the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 12.