A team often reflects the character of its Coach. NFL Running back Raheem Mostert was recently on the Colin Cowherd show speaking about this very thing. He was on the Miami Dolphins from 2022-2024. He spoke about how former Dolphins Coach Mike McDaniel’s player-friendly attitude and lack of “grit” and authoritarian leadership hurt the character makeup of the team.
Lions Coach Dan Campbell is the complete opposite coaching archetype of McDaniel. That isn’t to say Campbell isn’t a player friendly coach. As a former player himself he is able to relate to his team. He wears his heart on his sleeve; often getting emotional in press conferences and post game speeches, showing how much he loves his players.
Despite those sentimental moments, Campbell is still both respected and feared in the locker room. At 6’6” and roughly 265 pounds, the man known as “Motor City Dan Campbell” (MCDC) often preaches one word to his team: GRIT. In an interview with the Sports Podcast Pardon My Take, Campbell defined Grit as
“the ability to overcome adversity in any situation. The ability to push through (adversity) mentally and physically.”
And that is exactly what he has instilled in the team. Since taking over the Lions, Campbell has led the lowly franchise to their first ever NFC North Title (twice) and first ever NFC Championship game.
If you watch any of his speeches to his team, it’s not hard to see how easy it is to stay motivated with Campbell as a Coach.
But despite having a master motivator and great coach like Campbell, the Lions still have their flaws. And while they did not make the playoffs this year, those are not the problems I am referring to.
Last week, Lions 2024 1st round draft pick made headlines for allegedly being involved in a kidnapping/robbery incident. Allegedly the story goes Arnold and his friends took matters into their own hands after their AirBnB was robbed. Arnold’s lawyer claims he did not participate in nor was present for any of the alleged conduct.
The question is, how does a player on a team known for resiliency, mental toughness, and accountability end up in a situation like this? That’s what Campbell preaches. Right? And players are reflections of their coaches?
This happens to us as Christians as well.
We too have a great Coach. The GREATEST Coach, Jesus Christ. What other Coach loves his players so much He would serve their suspension? Christ died for his Players. He motivates his players. He provides us with a playbook built to guide us through anything life throws at us.
In my last post, Dear Protesters, Jesus is Not Your Mascot, I talked about how People often structure their own concept of who Jesus was to fit their own ideology.
But Jesus IS who He IS. Not who we want him to be. He is the one Coach His players can never truly live up to. We will never be able to truly live like Christ, as he is perfect and we are sinners. But as Christians it’s our job to do our best to show the world what Christ our Coach, our God, is all about. And not just with words but action. To be the best example of Him to the world as we can be.
The best way to do that is to keep him close. It is not Jesus who walks away from us. But us who walks away from him.
Like the NFL player that gets in trouble in the offseason away from their Coach who tries to keep them on the right path.
We Christians find ourselves in deep waters of our own doing when we are not disciplined in Prayer, Worship, and Obedience. Not to say there is a way to do everything right and your life will be perfect as long as you are a good little Christian. The Bible tells us that is not true.
But if we followed Jesus just for transactional comfort that wouldn’t be real devotion. And that’s what separates him from being just another coach.
We don’t follow him just because we believe he will lead us to the Super Bowl. We acknowledge he created the Game and He loved us enough to give us a chance to play.
So study your playbooks, and keep your Coach’s words close to your mind and heart.
Because the game isn’t just played on Sundays. It’s played every day you step out onto the field, we call the world.
Great Peace Books 