With every Detroit Lions victory comes a Dan Campbell locker room speech to get you pumped for the week ahead.
The Ford Field season opener on Sept. 14, 2025, was no exception. Campbell’s excitement was palpable after the decisive 52-21 victory over the NFC North rival Chicago Bears.
“Man, there’s nothing like gettin’ your first win of the season,” he said. “And playing better than we did last week. A lot freakin’ better.”
Campbell said there’s some clean-up to do, but communication was better, execution was better, everyone was on point and the team won a lot of one-on-ones.
“We believe in us,” he said. “We’re the ones who put in the work. It’s like they forgot that we’re (expletive) fighters.
“That’s win number one.”
And with that he presented three game balls.
“We got a birthday, actually, Tuesday,” Campbell started. “It’s her 100th birthday. Mrs. Ford.”
“Thank you so much,” she said to Campbell as he handed a ball to her.
“I’m so proud of you all and I am so thankful for this,” former Lions chair Martha Firestone Ford said. “I can’t tell you how thrilled I am with each game and I see the results. And I think we’ve got a great leader.”
Second game ball went to Lions defensive back Brian Branch who, when accepting the ball, said, “we can’t get too excited. We got Baltimore next week.”
Third game ball went to Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who had the first 3-touchdown game of his career. He gave a shout-out to quarterback Jared Goff’s 5 touchdowns in his speech.
Campbell then asks Goff to break it down.
Goff in huddle: “Way to respond. Proud of every one of you guys. … Feed off each other. Great (expletive) job.”
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: They forgot we’re fighters: Watch Dan Campbell’s locker room speech after Lions’ first win
Reporting by Amy Huschka, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
