Winning is priority A, but of all the winning coaches in history, the ones that are talked about long after, Don Coryell, Buddy Ryan, Mike Shanahan, they usually brought something unique to the game that made them notable.
With Dan Campbell now seeing his Full Aggro style of play yield consistent wins, I am hopeful that history will look back on him as sort of a pioneer. I dont ever remember someone year after year leading the league in 4th down attempts, in trick plays, just pure fearless aggressive calls. No doubt he got some of that from Sean Payton, but he takes it to a very new level.
My prediction is, if it hasnt happened already, you will see many more teams and coaches adopt this approach, which cements what I’ve said above about an impactful unique style. It will be interesting to look out for in the coming years.
I think it’s cool that Dan got the opportunity to establish this aggressive identity his first year in Detroit, when it was so hard to get wins. That aggressive style seemed necessary just to give the Lions a chance in those early games, and yet the media often questioned his aggressive style back then. When he remained aggressive in years 2 and now 3 and also began to win more, the media started lauding his aggressiveness, and it also became clear that it is just part of Dan’s DNA. He is going to take calculated risks.
I am thinking if he had been coaching a different team that first year, one that had more weapons and higher expectations to win immediately, it might have been harder for him to get buy-in on his aggressive style, if that makes any sense.