Jack Campbell update: Detroit Lions coach says 'Everybody's in good spirits'

Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell visited Jack Campbell at a local hospital after the Lions’ win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, Nov. 1. A day later, he said Campbell’s family is “in good spirits” as the injured linebacker continues to recover from a neck injury.

“It was good, it was positive,” Campbell said. “Got to see his parents, talk to his wife and everybody’s in good spirits. And it’s about the recovery and it’s a small setback. That’s the family, they’re very positive. So that’s good in that regard.”

The Lions released a statement before Dan Campbell’s news conference Monday that read, “Jack Campbell continues to rest and recover at a local hospital. Preliminary indications are positive and out of respect for Jack and his family we will not share further information at this time.”

THE LATEST: Monday's news on Jack Campbell

The team has not said whether or to what extent Jack Campbell has movement in his extremities, and Dan Campbell declined to elaborate on the statement.

Jack Campbell was injured making a tackle on Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson on the first play of the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game. Campbell's head appeared to hit Hockenson's left hip on the play.

He fell face-first to the ground after making the stop and lay motionless on the turf as doctors loaded him onto a backboard and took him to a waiting ambulance by medical cart.

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The game was delayed for about 10 minutes and Ford Field sat silent while players from both teams surrounded the scene on a knee in prayer. Several Lions players, including Aidan Hutchinson, Jared Goff, Derrick Barnes, Levi Onwuzurike and Chuck Clark, approached the cart and appeared to say something to Campbell before it left the field, and Barnes said he was headed to the hospital, where Campbell remained overnight, after the game.

"He's got a wife, I know they’re worried cause I was worried," Barnes said. "I can only imagine how they feel in those types of moments. Forget football, it’s about the person. Football was the last thing on my mind when that happened. It was all about Jack."

On Monday, Dan Campbell thanked Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell for checking in on Jack Campbell and having his team say a prayer for the injured linebacker, and he said everyone’s “prayers are working, please continue to do that.”

At one point, Dan Campbell got choked up during his 10-minute news conference when a reporter asked about the emotions he felt watching Jack Campbell lay on the field.

“Yeah, it’s difficult,” Dan Campbell said. “It’s difficult. You don’t ever want to see somebody like that on the field, but when you see Jack, Jack never lays on the field, ever, no matter what it is.

And that’s when you’re like – it just, like I say, it puts it in perspective. It’s hard. And it was hard on everybody.

That’s hard on the players, man, to see your guy down there like that, but I mentioned this, when you’re in the world we’re in,, you got to snap back in and it’s not an easy thing to do but they did it. And we found a way to overcome a lot of adversity between that and the officials and all the other stuff that came about, man, we just kept coming back. Got it done, we found a way, and then it was back to Jack.

So it’s hard. But we did what we had to do.”

The Lions forced a incomplete pass on fourth-and-5, one play after Jack Campbell's injury, and defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard gathered his unit in prayer on the sideline between series.

After the Vikings took a 15-12 lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Lions rallied for the winning touchdown. After the game, players said Campbell was on their mind during the comeback.

“I’ve never really been through something like that, like right when they wheel him off, you go back into it," Hutchinson said. "It was just weird. You got to get back in football mode immediately, but I think we really did a good job of directing the energy and directing that game, with the – having a lot of bodies go down. So we were just trying to get the job done with the guys we had for the guys we lost."

Along with Campbell, the Lions also lost rookie linebacker Jimmy Rolder to a season-ending hamstring injury on the same play.

Dan Campbell said the team will rely on Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez and Trevor Nowaske at the linebacker position for now. Joe Bachie could have a role off practice squad, and the Lions will look to add to the position in the coming days.

Campbell said the team will prepare as usual this week, while keeping Jack Campbell in their thoughts and prayers.

“Look, you get voted captain, that says a ton, especially with this group of guys that has been assembled,” Dan Campbell said. “I mean, he earned every bit of that. He’s a guy that he’s trustworthy, he’s dependable and he’d give you the shirt off his back. He’s just all heart, man, all effort and just an unbelievable person. I mean, that’s the other thing, he’s just an unbelievable person. Down to earth, very genuine. Man, he just – I mean, there’s not a man on this team that doesn’t respect Jack Campbelll and care for him.”

Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.