The Detroit Lions had difficulty protecting the football in Thursday night’s 34-7 defeat to the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2025 Hall of Fame Game.

Dan Campbell’s team committed five turnovers, including two on special teams—one being a fumble on the opening kickoff—and three interceptions. Even though it was a preseason matchup featuring reserves, the head coach was clearly displeased with the showing.

“You want to win, and you want to execute well, and we just didn’t do that,” Campbell said. “That’s what’s frustrating. But like I said, we’ll learn from this. We’ll use this film to coach these guys up and help them improve, which will benefit us. I expect better play next week from the guys who played in this one.”

Regardless of who was playing, Campbell made it clear that giveaways are unacceptable at any level within the franchise.

“We gave the ball away five times and didn’t force any turnovers,” Campbell said. “That’s a tough situation—you’re putting your defense in a bad spot…

“When you’re wearing that Lions logo, you’ve got to protect the football, or it’s going to be tough to keep a spot here.”

Detroit is adjusting to new coordinators on both offense and defense. When it came to in-game logistics—especially on offense with new OC John Morton—Campbell felt it went smoother than anticipated. Still, the on-field execution overshadowed any of those positives.

“The takeaway is, when you get your moment, you’ve got to capitalize,” Campbell said. “…We’ve got this on film now. It needs to be cleaned up. We must improve a lot. We need to coach better, and they’ve got to perform better in the next game.”