Even after leading the Detroit Lions to achievements the franchise hadn’t seen in over 30 years \u2014 and some they had never encountered \u2014 head coach Dan Campbell again walked away from the NFL Honors show without any awards.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Campbell, a contender for this season’s Coach of the Year title, fell short, finishing behind Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell. Campbell secured the second position in the voting.<\/p>\n
AP Coach of the Year voting;<\/strong><\/p>\n Coach<\/p>\n Kevin O\u2019Connell 25-18-7-0-0: 361<\/p>\n Dan Campbell 19-10-8-8-3: 283<\/p>\n Andy Reid 4-8-9-4-4: 119<\/p>\n Sean Payton 1-2-10-5-11: 71<\/p>\n Dan Quinn 1-6-7-8-8: 85<\/p>\n Jim Harbaugh 0-3-3-12-11: 59<\/p>\n Sean McDermott 0-3-1-5-4: 32<\/p>\n Mike Tomlin 0-0-3-3-1: 16<\/p>\n Sean McVay 0-0-1-1-4: 9<\/p>\n Matt LaFleur 0-0-1-2-0: 7<\/p>\n Todd Bowles 0-0-0-1-1: 3<\/p>\n Nick Sirianni 0-0-0-0-3: 3<\/p>\n John Harbaugh 0-0-0-1-0: 2<\/p>\n Competing as well were Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton, Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn, and Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid \u2014 who is set to coach in Super Bowl 59 on Sunday.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This year also signified Campbell’s second consecutive year as a finalist without winning the award.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although all the finalists guided their teams to remarkable seasons \u2014 with some achieving significant turnarounds \u2014 there\u2019s a valid case that Campbell was overlooked.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To begin with, losing to O\u2019Connell can be seen as puzzling, considering that two of the Vikings\u2019 three defeats this season were against the Detroit Lions, who had a perfect record in the NFC North.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Lions concluded the regular season with a franchise-best record of 15-2, becoming the NFL’s fourth-highest-scoring offense ever, establishing multiple franchise and single-season records in the process.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the defensive side, the Lions suffered greatly from injuries, with up to 16 players placed on injured reserve.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Significant losses included defensive end Aidan Hutchinson; linebackers Alex Anzalone, Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin; defensive lineman Alim McNeill; and cornerback Carlton Davis III.<\/p>\n However, in spite of those challenges, the defense successfully executed crucial plays at critical moments \u2014 notably delivering the league’s top interception leader in Kerby Joseph.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Considering all factors, Campbell guiding Detroit to the NFC’s top seed and a consecutive division title strengthens his argument for Coach of the Year, making it as compelling as anyone else’s.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One might assume so.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nonetheless, it was O’Connell, who led the Vikings to a 14-3 record, that received the honor. He steered Minnesota through major early difficulties, such as losing rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy before the season and starting offensive lineman Christian Darrisaw to ACL and MCL injuries after only seven games.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n O\u2019Connell was instrumental in the revival of quarterback Sam Darnold, who ended up fifth in both passing yards (4,319) and passing touchdowns (35).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although Campbell emerged as the winner, his quarterback did not.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jared Goff, a contender for this season\u2019s MVP award, fell short as it was awarded to Buffalo\u2019s Josh Allen, marking the first occasion the Bills quarterback has received the honor. Goff secured fifth place in the voting.<\/p>\n Goff concluded the season ranked second in passing yards (4,629), first in completion percentage among quarterbacks who participated in all 17 games (72.4%), fourth in touchdowns (37), and second in passer rating among quarterbacks who played all 17 games (111.8).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although he had a solid resume, Goff’s Week 10 showing versus the Houston Texans\u2014 a match the Lions clinched with a last-second field goal \u2014 was mostly criticized throughout the season.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In that match, Goff passed for 240 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted five times, marking what could be considered the worst performance of his career.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Following that match, Goff responded well, delivering 21 touchdowns and only three interceptions in the last eight games while completing about 73% of his throws.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This was the first occasion in his nine-year career that he secured first in MVP voting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Even after leading the Detroit Lions to achievements the franchise hadn’t seen in over 30 years \u2014 and some they had never encountered \u2014 head coach Dan Campbell again walked away from the NFL Honors show without any awards. Campbell, a contender for this season’s Coach of the Year title, fell short, finishing behind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n