NFC Notes: Dan Campbell, MarShawn Lloyd, Bears, Lions, Packers

Bears

• Brad Biggs notes the Bears parted ways with director of football analytics Krithi Chandrakasan this week. 

Lions

Lions HC Dan Campbell made one of the most unique first impressions of any coach in recent memory at his introductory press conference, but QB Jared Goff said appearances can be deceiving when it comes to his head coach.

“For a while, he was playing into it,” Goff said, via The Athletic. “So what, people think I’m a meathead? They think I’m stupid? Good. I hope they do. I’ve been around a lot of really, really smart coaches in this league. He’s right there with them.”

Lions LT Taylor Decker said that Campbell tells the team exactly how they’ll win on gameday and spoke to his leadership.

“This is how smart he is,” Decker says, speaking on the same topic. “In our meetings the day before a game, he tells us exactly how we’re gonna win. And a day later that’s usually what happens. You know how easy it is to buy into that? He’s the best leader I’ve ever been around. So f— what everybody else thinks. I wouldn’t wanna play for any other head coach.”

Decker said that Campbell stood up for his team during his first season, which helped gain their trust.

“He took it on the chin, criticism from everywhere, to protect us,” Decker says. “That sounds silly because we’re grown men, but when you have a guy in the organization saying, ‘I’ve got your back, I’ll take all the bullets, you just work on getting better,’ that’s really, really powerful. Especially when the guys here didn’t know who to trust.”

Packers

Packers RB MarShawn Lloyd had a roller-coaster season that included a hip injury, a nagging hamstring issue, and emergency surgery for appendicitis. 

“Everything happens for a reason,” Lloyd said, via the team website. “That’s the thing that went through my head. I’ve always tried to (say), ‘OK, why did this happen?’ But at the end of the day you just gotta go with it.”

Lloyd visited the University of Wisconsin to have his hamstring worked on after being referred by WR Christian Watson and CB Eric Stokes.

“They told me how well it worked for them,” Lloyd commented on his conversations with Watson and Stokes. “Just being there from last year to this year, how well they were able to stay healthy. Just being able to hear from them but also just know that it can help me, I’m excited about that.”

Lloyd noted that when healthy he can do more to help out starting RB Josh Jacobs.

“Josh had a really good year, and I do think and I do know that I can help him a lot,” Lloyd said. “He had a lot of hits on his body, I’m there to help and he knows that. It’s going to be fun when I get out there on the field to play with him. Some of the things, the appendix thing you can’t control that, but I just gotta keep my foot on everything I need to do to be able to help this team as much as possible. It’s been a very, very rough year, but I got time. I’m getting healthy, so I’m getting there. Then it’s just attacking the offseason and being ready to go.”