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Dan Campbell’s prediction didn’t even come close to materializing.
After the Lions defeated the Vikings in Week 18 of the regular season, Detroit’s head coach told Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell during their postgame embrace, “I’ll see you in two weeks” — implying the pair of teams would meet again in the postseason.
Instead, the Vikings lost in the NFC wild-card round, the Lions were upset by the Commanders on Saturday and Campbell’s clip — picked up by the NBC broadcast on Jan. 5 — resurfaced again for how it backfired.
“Dan Campbell spotting Kevin O’Connell at the hotel bar in Cancun,” one user wrote on X.
“Hopefully Kevin O’Connell has a pina colada ready for him in Cancun,” another user added.
The Lions earned the NFC North title and the No. 1 seed in the NFC with their 31-9 win over the Vikings in Week 18, which forced Minnesota — their sputtering offense, a struggling Sam Darnold, all of it — to face the Rams in the wild-card round as the No. 5 seed.
During last week’s playoff clash against the Rams, the Vikings trailed 24-3 at halftime as Darnold — whose 2024 campaign turned into a revival for the former No. 3 overall pick and Jets castoff — turned the ball over two times across the opening 30 minutes, and they didn’t have enough time to recover before suffering the season-ending loss that undid all of the progress from a 14-3 regular season.
Then, less than a week later, the Lions allowed Jayden Daniels and the Commanders to erupt for 31 points in the first half and allowed consecutive fourth-quarter touchdowns after pulling within a field goal.
“It just hurts to lose, man,” an emotional Campbell said as he teared up postgame. “And I don’t care if you’re the 7-seed, 6-seed, 5-seed, 1-seed. Cause I’ve lost at all of them, damn near. And it stings and it hurts. It hurts. You have to get up, body’s beat to s–t, mentally stay locked in and do those things, so long season.”
The Vikings would’ve needed to defeat the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in the Divisional Round to set up the matchup Campbell predicted.
But the final weekend of January will feature two different teams — the Commanders and the Eagles-Rams winner — colliding in the NFC Championship for a spot in the Super Bowl and a trip to New Orleans.
