Minnesota Vikings - 19, Detroit Lions - 17
Q. (Question concerning the emotional state of Dan Campbell.)
A. Yeah, I think -- I think we all kind of feel the same way he does. It's hard. It's hard to give everything you got every week and to have moments of feeling like you've won the game and have it snatched from you. It's tough. It's tough.
It's as hard as it gets in this league, to do stuff like that and try to bounce back from it. I've said it every week, but we've got a resilient bunch that will bounce back. And Dan's our leader.
Q. (Question concerning Jared Goff's turnovers.)
A. You know, it's, obviously, stuff you don't want to happen. But I'm going to keep letting it fly. I think, you know, the fumble was just a lack of ball security by me. And I thought they made a great play on the interception. He made a one-handed catched.
Not ideal, obviously, in the plus territory. But things like that are going to happen. You know, our defense was able to force some turnovers of their own and it makes the game pretty close there. But, you know, I can't play afraid to make a mistake.
Q. (Question concerning the interception.)
A. I thought I could fit it by him.
Q. When you go 27, 28 minutes without putting up points in the second half, you know, we've seen some of these drives before. What gave you the confidence that you could get it together to close it out?
A. Yeah, obviously, I think the play made there at the end is kind of, you know, unbelievable. They were able to force a turnover there when they're trying to run out the clock.
And, you know, when they got the ball in the situation, it gave us a little bit of life and we were able to run the ball in there with Swift and then the two-point conversion was a play that we needed to make and we made it. That's kind of the bottom line. Anything can happen throughout the game.
And at the end of the game, you want to be able to be there to make those plays and we did. But, ultimately, they were able to finish with a field goal.
It's never one play, never one thing that loses or wins the game. It's a culmination of execution, effort, and being smart.
Q. You talked about the aggression, right, fourth down, but this is a different level. You go for the two-point conversion, a win, loss. I know we keep asking it. What does it mean in those moments with your coach?
A. Yeah, it means a lot. And I think he knows -- you know, it means a lot to us, as well. I know had we had not get that, you guys would be killing him right now. And rightfully so, but we did get it. And ultimately it didn't finish the game off.
He's got a lot of faith in us down there in the tight red. And we've -- you know, I think proved him right more than not. But, you know, it was a good chance for us to prove him right again today.
Q. Did you know he was going to go for it?
A. Yep, yep.
Q. How?
A. He told me before the drive.
Q. What did he say?
A. He said, When we score, we're going to go for two.
Q. How's that like?
A. Yeah, I mean, we're on the 12-yard line. We better score, right? We've got quite a bit of time and able to tell the offense, You know, after we score, get ready, we're going to go for two again here.
And, yeah, I kind of expected it. You know, the way that game was going, if we get a chance to take the lead, you better take it. Kind of expected it. Was able to connect there. And, again, ultimately, not enough.
Q. Dan said you guys have had a lot of battles in defense. 50-50 both ways. (No microphone.)
A. A lot. Well. And, you know, it speaks to our guys. Again, it's a good little tidbit is, I don't know KhaDarel Hodge ran that route ever. I think it was Cephus the whole time.
And then Cephus goes down, and KhaDarel steps in. Being a smart player, knowing what he's supposed to do, gets himself open. So that kind of indicates the type of guys we have, which is encouraging there.
Q. (Question concerning the turnovers.)
A. Yeah, I think each one of them, you have to look at individually, right? I think, you know, if I'm making poor decisions, I think that's one thing. If it's lack of ball security, that's another thing. If it's, you know, they're making plays on defense, it's another thing.
I think you have to look at them all individually. Obviously, we need to limit them. They need to go away, right?
But I need to keep playing aggressively like I always have and not allow, you know, things that may happen my way or their way, whatever it may be affect the way that I play each play.
Q. (Follow-up question concerning the turnovers.)
A. Yeah, I mean, I can't think of -- I can't think back that far to all of them. But today was, like I mentioned, ball security on one and I thought Eric Kendricks made a great play.
Q. This is a defensive question. After you made that two-point conversion, do you think you had the game won or do you go, This is the NFL, this is all --
A. Of course. You know it's the NFL and they got some dudes that can make plays. Of course, you're optimistic that today is the day we get the win. But, yeah, they made it happen.
Q. (No microphone.)
A. Yeah, it's the hard part, right, is keeping guys in the right frame of mind. And I think -- I've kind of said it over and over again, we have the right type of guys and right leadership here that these things don't have as big of a negative toll on us as one may think from the outside. We got the right guys.
But for me personally, how can I show up every day as the guy, show up every day as the beacon of positivity or the energy guy that can kind of pull guys along? I think that's me with along with a bunch of guys on our team that have this experience, have the ability to do that.
And it's a responsibility we have as leaders and captains. But it starts up top with Dan and it kind of trickles through us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports