Lions rally for Jack Campbell in emotional Vikings win: 'It was for 4-6'
· Yahoo Sports
Aidan Hutchinson came barreling off the right side of the defensive line, past Minnesota Vikings left tackle Christian Darrisaw, and hit Kyler Murray as he heaved the ball off his back foot downfield.
Moments earlier, an emotional Hutchinson gathered his defensive teammates in a huddle and with tears in his eyes told them, in no uncertain terms: We’re going to do this for 4-6.
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Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell, No. 46, was taken off the field on a medical cart and backboard one play earlier, after he appeared to run headfirst into Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson’s left hip while making a tackle.
Campbell was breathing and alert when he was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated for a neck injury, but on the Lions’ biggest stop of the season – a fourth-and-5 from their own 25-yard line – football was the last thing on Hutchinson’s mind.
“You’re filled with a lot of emotions and then I got a good rush on that fourth down and I feel like, we’re in the huddle, just really you feel – we were more united than we’ve ever been before that play,” Hutchinson said. “You go out, it’s a weird dynamic between football being a game and then you snap out of it to seeing a dude getting carted off and then you’re right back in it. It’s just riding that roller coaster is a little, it’s a little foreign for sure.”
Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 153 yards on 23 carries and Jared Goff threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Jameson Williams with 4:35 to play, but the celebration in the Lions locker room was muted after handing the previously unbeaten Vikings their first loss of the season, 19-15, at Ford Field.
“There’s a lot of excitement because that was a hard-fought win, but they also, there’s a lot of questions, like everybody wants to know [how he’s doing], obviously,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “Everybody wants to know and we can’t really give any answers quite yet, so it’s a little bittersweet. It’s a little bittersweet.”
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Dan Campbell said Jack Campbell was “being taken care of” at the hospital, but the team did not have any further information on their All-Pro linebacker’s health.
Jack Campbell fell face first to the ground and laid motionless on the turf after stopping Hockenson after a 10-yard gain on the first play of the fourth quarter.
The game was delayed for about 10 minutes and Ford Field sat silent as Lions doctors tended to Campbell while players from both teams surrounded the scene on a knee in prayer.
Hutchinson, Goff, linebacker Derrick Barnes, defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike and safety Chuck Clark were among the players who appeared to approach the cart and say something to Campbell before it left the field.
After the series, with the Lions clinging to a 12-7 lead, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard gathered the defense on the sideline in prayer.
“This is a ruthless game,” cornerback Roger McCreary said. “Jack is a great person, a great teammate so I feel like it hit everybody. That’s part of the game that a lot of people don’t want to see, that we definitely don’t live to play for. Anything can happen. I feel like in this game we went through a lot of adversity, a lot of guys went down, our leader on our defense came down. We came together on defense and said we’re going to do this for Jack.”
Barnes, one of Campbell’s closest friends on the team, said he was headed to the hospital to visit Campbell after the game.
“I’m just praying, hoping that everything’s fine,” he said. “I know the God that we serve and I know Jack’ll be fine, but I’m just, like I said, these moments are very emotional. I couldn’t even really think about the win or football. It’s all about him. This is bigger than football.”
The Lions went three-and-out on their first offensive series after Campbell’s injury, and Murray followed with a seven-play, 84-yard touchdown drive to give the Vikings a 15-12 lead.
But the Lions ran the ball on 13 of their final 15 plays from scrimmage, overpowering the NFL’s No. 1 rushing defense to win their third straight game.
Gibbs carried three times for 35 yards on the game-winning drive. His backup, Sione Vaki had runs of 10 and 12 yards on the same possession. And after Williams ran by Vikings safety Harrison Smith for an easy 7-yard touchdown, the Lions defense forced a three-and-out and before the offense ran the final 2:53 off the clock to seal the game.
The Lions, 5-2 and tied for second place in the NFC North with the Chicago Bears, finished with a season-high 230 yards rushing against a Vikings defense that entered the week tops in the NFL in points allowed at 12.3 points per game.
The Vikings (6-1) still lead the North by a game over the Lions and Bears, who visit the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks on Monday night.
“I don’t know the status of Jack, but I think from that point on, just seeing something like that, him being down for so long, yeah, I think from that moment on we really – it was for 4-6, man,” Hutchinson said. “And again, we don’t really know the status, but we’re praying for him.”
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Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions rally for Jack Campbell in emotional Vikings win: 'It was for 4-6'