Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell was injured in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.
He and rookie linebacker Jimmy Rolder went down after a tackle, and though Rolder eventually left on his own power accompanied by a trainer, Campbell laid still on the Ford Field turf for more than 10 minutes as he was being prepared to be taken off on a stretcher.
Campbell’s head appeared to collide with Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson’s left hip, and the All-Pro linebacker fell to the ground.
The Ford Field crowd became silent as players and staff from both teams took a knee on the field.
Campbell was transported to a hospital for a neck injury, the Lions announced. Lions coach Dan Campbell addressed the linebacker’s health in his postgame news conference but said he had no new updates on his situation.
He led the Lions with 54 tackles in their 4-2 start.
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Rolder was questionable to return with a hamstring injury.
The Lions earned a hard-fought 19-15 victory to give Minnesota its first loss.
The Lions entered the game as healthy as they have been all season, but also lost starting safety Brian Branch and defensive end DJ Wonnum on a scary collision in the second quarter. Both left with brain injuries after entering concussion protocol.
The Lions then saw starting cornerback D.J. Reed leave on the next defensive drive with a hip injury.
Here’s what we know and the latest news about the Jack Campbell injury:
Dan Campbell addresses team in locker room
It was, as expected, an emotional locker room Sunday as Lions coach Dan Campbell gathered his team for final thoughts. Here is what he said about Jack Campbell after the game:
“I am going to lower this mood a little bit. I do not have any more information on Jack,” Campbell said. “We don’t know anything else at this point. So, here’s what I wanna do, man. We’re gonna take a knee now. I wanna pray for Jack, OK? And let’s keep him in our thoughts and prayers, man.”
Campbell to stay in hospital overnight
The latest on Campbell’s injury, per a statement from the Lions:
“Jack Campbell is resting and will remain in a local hospital tonight for continued evaluation and monitoring. The team will provide further updates as we have them.”
Campbell alert and breathing as he left game
The Lions linebacker, carted from Sunday’s game, was breathing and alert as he was taken from Ford Field to a local hospital, per the Free Press’ Dave Birkett.
Aidan Hutchinson describes ‘roller coaster’ of emotions
Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson was seen on the field giving a tear-filled speech to teammates after Campbell’s injury. After the game, he described the emotions he was feeling in the moment.
“I was filled with a lot of emotions,” he said. “We were more united than we had ever been before that play. And when you go out, it’s a weird dynamic, between football being a game, and then snap out of it to seeing a dude being carted off, and then right back in it. Riding that roller coaster, it’s a little foreign, for sure.”
Derrick Barnes on Jack Campbell injury
Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes shared how he felt after watching Campbell leave the field with a serious neck injury.
“In those type of moments, forget football, it’s about the person. Football is the last thing on my mind. When it happened, it was all about Jack,” he said postgame. “Take the football, all that, out of it. It’s about him and his family, and whatever I can [do to] be there for him, I will be.”
Dan Campbell provides update on Jack Campbell
Lions coach Dan Campbell provided a small update on Jack Campbell in his postgame news conference.
“Thoughts and prayers are with Jack and his family,” he said. “He’s being taken care of. We don’t have any new information. We’ll keep you updated as this goes, but we’re thinking about him. We’re thinking about him.”
Jack Campbell injury is to his neck
“Jack Campbell is being transported to a local hospital to be evaluated for a neck injury,” the Lions announced at 3:55 p.m. ET, late in the fourth quarter.
Lions LB depth chart
Without Campbell, the Lions have veterans Trevor Nowaske, who grew up a Lions fan in Michigan, and Malcolm Rodriguez, along with Rolder, a fourth-round rookie out of Michigan. Derrick Barnes is the Lions’ other starting linebacker.
The Vikings stopped the Lions, then drove down the field and scored a touchdown and 2-point conversion for a 15-12 lead with 8:44 to play. The Lions lost Reed on the drive, too, and the Vikings made them pay. But the Lions’ defense got a stop on the next possession, preserving the lead the offense had just gained.
How did Jack Campbell get hurt? Video of injury
Here’s the video of the injury. It seemed to show Campbell getting bent back on the tackle.
Lions defense joins in prayer on sideline
After the fourth-down stop, the Lions defense was seen on the sideline standing in prayer after Campbell’s injury.
Jack Campbell injury update
Campbell was strapped to a backboard and carted off after about 10 minutes.
The play occurred on third down with 14:48 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Lions leading 12-7. Aidan Hutchinson was seen with tears in the huddle, then pressured Kyler Murray to cause an incompletion, giving the Lions the ball back at their own 25-yard line.
Who is Jack Campbell on the Lions?
Campbell was the No. 18 overall pick by the Lions in 2023 out of Iowa.
Campbell, a 2025 first-team All-Pro selection, is considered one of the best off-ball linebackers in the NFL and he’s one of the highest-paid now.
Jack Campbell contract
The Lions signed Campbell, 26, in May to a four-year contract worth $81 million with $51.4 million guaranteed, keeping him in Detroit through the 2030 season.
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You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.

The painful but seemingly inexorable march toward head coach unemployment took another significant step in the careers of Brian Schottenheimer and Shane Steichen on Sunday.
Both coaches are headed to similar dismissals which are deserved and the only reason it hasn’t happened already is because the owners of the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys are eccentric and perhaps arrogant enough to believe what is an obvious lost cause can still be redeemed.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said after Sunday’s come-from-in-front overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals that Schottenheimer remains the Cowboys’ coach and firing him is not a looming move.
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“We’re not going to get into anything, that’s not in my mind at this time,” Jones told the usual gaggle of reporters he entertains after home games. “The main thing that’s in my mind is we tee it up for those kind of spots to win it. We really do want those situations. Call for it. Bring it on.”
The Cowboys got the situations they wanted, leading 14-3 at halftime and 17-10 after three quarters against the Cards. And they blew the game.
The upstart Cardinals rallied behind Gardner Minshew throwing to Michael Wilson or handing it to Tyler Allgeier, who rushed for 147 yards against Dallas after gaining 64 yards the previous three games.
Jones saw his team lose at home for the third time in four games.
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He saw his team fail to string together consecutive wins for the third time this season. Indeed, winning streaks are foreign to the Cowboys under Schottenheimer, because they have won consecutive games only once in his tenure.
And out of all this, after losing to a roster that is less talented and slightly less experienced, Jones blamed practically everyone except Schottenheimer.
“A lot of people let Brian down today,” Jones said. “And so for whatever criticism we want to have of Brian, we can all get in line. To use a cliché, that was a total team effort out there for us. And we have to be, for our fans, we have to be better than that when we got our hands on a win and then drop the ball.”
So, Jones is staying the course for now. But that doesn’t answer the fundamental question why?
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The Colts were similarly trying to find answers to their continued problems after Sunday’s blowout 42-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Colts have lost four consecutive games, fired their general manager, traded multiple star players, are on the verge of also trading running back Jonathan Taylor, and Steichen was somehow searching for reasons he’s got problems.
“I’m going to evaluate everything, every position going forward,” Steichen said at one point when someone asked if Daniel Jones would remain his starting quarterback.
Earth to Steichen: Where was this evaluation of Jones before you and deposed GM Chris Ballard agreed to give the quarterback a two-year extension in March?
The coach who was all in on Jones in the offseason seemed suddenly willing to get out on Sunday. And that seems to be the prevailing culture in Indy.
Owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon has quit on the season by firing the GM, and ordering the systematic trading of top talent to the highest draft choice bidder.
Steichen has been seemingly picked up on that and turned on Jones. And some players are turning on the season as seen by them letting the Jaguars tear through weak tackle attempts to the tune of 183 rushing yards and three passing TDs by Trevor Lawrence.
Because of all this, it would not really surprise if Irsay-Gordon soon turns her quitting on Steichen. As early as Monday. With the coach’s ouster.
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Should that guillotine not fall on Monday or this week, it would merely be a temporary stay and not a permanent sign of confidence.
But if the ax falls, the Colts can hand the interim head coach job to defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo or offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter – both of whom have interviewed for NFL head coach vacancies in the past.
Either way, change has come to the Colts and it will not be long before it claims Shane Steichen.

The Dallas Cowboys have never won a game against the Arizona Cardinals inside AT&T Stadium. With their Week 8 loss, they fell to 0-5 in such contests. The 33-30 overtime defeat was undoubtedly the most disappointing result of the bunch. In fact, former Cowboys quarterback Ben DiNucci chalked it up as an “embarrassing” loss.
Despite holding a 10-point lead with 3:54 to play in regulation, the Cowboys lost for the third time in the last four weeks. They led by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter and for the first time this century lost a home game with that kind of late advantage. They had won each of their last 69 such games. It was as disheartening of a showing as any across the NFL.
“This was absolutely embarrassing today,” DiNucci said on CBS Sports HQ. “They stink. I’m lost for words, honestly. They have so much talent on both sides of the ball, and year after year, week after week, all we see is just letdowns from them. I’m not sure what needs to change. … But at some point, the same old, same old in Dallas for the Cowboys, it’s not cutting it. Something needs to change. Somebody needs to look themselves in the mirror. I don’t know who it is, but that was an embarrassing loss for them.”
Dallas was fortunate to even have a second chance at winning the game in overtime, because if not for a missed extra point on the Cardinals’ final touchdown, they would have almost certainly lost in regulation.
Adding insult to injury, Arizona sparked its comeback with a backup quarterback. Gardner Minshew entered in relief of Jacoby Brissett and instantly elevated the offense with some help from running back Tyler Allgeier. What’s more, the Cardinals may be destined to finish the year in last place in the NFC West. That is the caliber of opponent the Cowboys need to defeat in order to accomplish their goal of winning their own division, which remains fully up for grabs.
“It comes down to effort for the Dallas Cowboys,” DiNucci said. “When you turn on the tape week in and week out — and I honestly hate questioning guys’ effort in the NFL because all of us understand what goes on on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis inside those locker rooms and organizations — but the effort is not there for the Cowboys. You never know what team you’re getting week in and week out. You can tell run play from pass play based on what effort guys are giving on offense.”
The changes that DiNucci called for might not include a coaching change. Team owner Jerry Jones indicated that firing Brian Schottenheimer in the middle of the season is not on the table. If not that, then what? There are only so many ways to spark a meaningful turnaround when a team is seemingly at rock bottom.
DiNucci understands the pressure that comes with wearing the Cowboys star, having spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons as the team’s backup quarterback, and he said the star veterans need to step up and change the culture.
“At some point, something inside that locker room needs to change,” DiNucci said. “The leaders, whoever it is: Dak Prescott, Quinnen Williams, CeeDee Lamb. Whoever it is, somebody needs to take control of that locker room and say, ‘Guys, whatever we’re doing right now is simply not working. We need to scrap this thing. We need to ignore the outside noise.’
“I think a lot of the problem in Dallas is there’s so much going on outside the game of football there. It’s hard for guys to compartmentalize football from what’s going on off the field. I can say that. I was there for a couple of years. I saw it firsthand on Mondays and Tuesdays; when I’m working out on off days, they’re running tours through the facility, letting people see us work out and meetings and this and that. There’s just a lot that comes with being a Dallas Cowboys football player, and I wonder if that at some point starts to take a toll on guys.”

ARLINGTON, Texas — The disappointment from Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones was clear after a 33-30 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, but it will not trigger any kind of coaching change.
“That’s not in my mind at this time,” Jones said.
Jones expressed confidence in Brian Schottenheimer and said, “a lot of people let Brian down today and so for whatever criticism we want to have of Brian, we can all get in line.”
The Cowboys are 3-5 and hold playoff possibilities mostly because of the struggles of the entire NFC East, although Dallas fell further behind the New York Giants (4-2-1).
With 14:20 left in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys led 24-10 after a 5-yard touchdown run from Dak Prescott.
Prior to Sunday, the Cowboys were 202-0-1 when leading by 14 or more points in the fourth quarter at home in their history, including playoffs. This loss matched the largest blown fourth-quarter lead in team history, according to Elias Sports Bureau. In 2011 and 2022, the Cowboys lost games at the New York Jets and at the Green Bay Packers. They are now 342-3-1 in franchise history when leading by 14 or more points in the fourth.
The Cowboys became the first team in the NFL this season to lose when leading by at least 14 points in the fourth. Teams were 44-0-1 in such situations, entering Sunday.
Even with a 10-point lead with 3:24 left, the Cowboys’ win probability peaked at 98.3%, according to ESPN Analytics.
“It’s an indictment of the whole show,” Jones said.
Schottenheimer, now 10-14-1 as Cowboys coach, said he was disappointed by the result, but, “I believe in our staff. I believe in our players.”
“I only know how to do it one way, and that’s the work. I’m a worker, I’m a problem solver. I think we got guys in there in that locker room that are problem solvers,” Schottenheimer said. “We have guys in there that want to be great. We got guys that believe in what we’re doing as a football team in all three phases, and they’re hurting. They’re hurting right now, too. And so as a leader, I’m going to stand in front and hit them with the truth.”
Jones has made only one in-season head coaching change in his tenure (since 1989). In 2010, the Cowboys were 1-7 when Jones replaced Wade Phillips with Jason Garrett, who held the job until 2019.
“I made a change and I don’t want to mention it because I’m not proud of it,” Jones said. “But I made a change with Wade Phillips there in the middle of the season and I don’t see that here.”
The only coach on the staff with NFL head coaching experience is senior defensive assistant Mike Pettine, who joined the team in Week 5. Pettine had a 10-22 record with the Cleveland Browns in 2014-15.
“It’s all of us,” Prescott said. “Don’t put the blame on one person. Simple as that. I think that’s weak. I think that’s cowardly. The game is about all 11 that touch the field and every person that has a part in it, coaches and support staff. And so it’s never just one person’s fault. Even if I go out there and throw 100 interceptions, it’s never just truly one person’s fault.
“And so yeah, don’t take the easy and cheap way out. This is about us and it’s about us backing him up and backing one another up and we’ll have to show it.”

The joke will be that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers set back the modern-day NFL offense by decades on Sunday by failing to complete even one pass, something which had happened only one other time during the Super Bowl era.
But the Bucs get the last laugh.
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They came away from Sunday’s rain-drenched, mud-soaked meeting with the Atlanta Falcons with a 16-0 victory where they set a new club rushing mark of 324 yards. On top of that, they have renewed life in the NFC South.
BUCCANEERS COLLECT TWO FREAKISH FIRST-HALF SCORES TO DOMINATE PANTHERS – AND, OH, BAKER MAYFIELD IS BACK
Afterward, coach Todd Bowles was asked if he informed his offensive coordinator or quarterback Baker Mayfield they weren’t going to throw the ball a lot.
“The conditions told him that,” Bowles said. “I mean, you could see it as a downpour down there and the wind’s blowing. You can kind of see the ball wasn’t going anywhere.”
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So much for the space-age passing inside an air conditioned dome.
This was three yards and a cloud of dust. Or rather, because this game at Raymond James Stadium was played in that unrelenting rain, it was three-yards-and-a-lot-of-slush.
So, a lot of running football. And, just to be accurate, for way more than three-yards a pop.
But no passing.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield attempted three passes without a completion.
“All right, let’s get this over with because you don’t want to talk to me,” Mayfield told reporters to open his postgame news conference.
This was some surreal stuff and that was obvious when Mayfield was asked questions about his lead blocking on one play.
“You know, if you’re not going to throw the ball, I got to get active somehow,” he said.
The last and only other time a team failed to complete a pass in a game since the NFL began playing Super Bowls was on Sept. 29, 1974 by the Buffalo Bills, according to the Associated Press.
It was O.J. Simpson’s Bills that did it that time with quarterback Joe Ferguson attempting only two passes without a completion.
Simpson ran for 117 yards in that long-ago game.
Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell went bonkers in this game. Irving gained 170 yards and averaged 6.3 yards per carry against the Falcons. Gainwell gained 140 rushing yards and averaged 5.6 yards per attempt.
Historic.
But Irving didn’t see it that way.
“I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t know the last time I checked the weather for a football game,” he said. “We’re going to have to play in it anyway. That’s how I think about it.
“Rain, snow, muddy, you’re going to have to play in it anyway.”
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It could be argued the Bucs would have been more productive, if perhaps, they had tried a pass sometime in the second half. But the Falcons tried doing some of that.
Their quarterback, Michael Penix Jr. completed only eight of his 24 attempts, throwing four interceptions.
The Bucs, on the other hand, didn’t try to hit their heads against the proverbial wall like that. They were too busy running up and down the field.