The Detroit Lions narrowly missed the 2025 NFL playoffs with a record of 9-8. But that doesn’t mean their head coach, Dan Campbell, didn’t give his all. And this is something that his wife, Holly Campbell, can vouch for.

While celebrating the Lions’ close 31-30 win over the New Orleans Saints, Holly went on Instagram to share a video of the post-game celebrations with Campbell, dogs included, showing the Lions coach is wired “differently.”

Naturally, the comments section had its own questions. One fan, clearly familiar with how wired Dan Campbell gets after a game, asked whether he’d managed to actually sleep afterward. Holly didn’t sugarcoat it and replied:

“Probably not much, he has a hard time winding down after games.”

A small, honest admission that says a lot about what it’s like living with a coach who pours everything into Sundays and apparently can’t quite switch it off once the clock hits zero.

On the field, Campbell is in all “grit” mode, calling in from the sidelines to push the squad to their limits. But when it comes to spending time with Holly and the family, he becomes a completely different person. But football still stays in his mind.

Campbell joined the Motor City team in January 2021 as the 30th coach of the franchise and succeeded Matt Patricia. Since then, he has completely revamped the Lions’ culture around “grit” and never-ending determination to keep the ball landing in the end zone. For the sixth time under Campbell’s mentorship, the Lions are headed on their redemption tour to land their hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

However, this isn’t the first time Holly has spoken about Dan Campbell’s mindset pre- and post-game. In 2024, after the Lions defeated the San Francisco 49ers and secured the No. 1 seed, Holly shared another post about Campbell’s routine:

“When he gets home at 7 am, takes a nap, and leaves for the office at 10 am…you do a solo coffee run and hand off the caffeine as he walks out the door. Victory Tuesday!!!!! #backontop #,” and shared this picture of Dan with his Starbucks cup,” she shared on her Instagram.

On the Sunday Sports Club podcast, Holly explained what it takes to be Dan Campbell in the 2025 season. To further support her explanation, she also revealed that Campbell has a twin mattress in his office. This shows Campbell’s dedication, which often goes unnoticed by fans.  

“As a coach, you don’t necessarily see that physical toll, but you see the mental toll, because they’re exhausted,” Holly Campbell explained. “There’s times that Dan, he’s got a bed, like in a wall, it’s a closet off of his office and there’s like a twin mattress in there. It’s like kind of shoved in the back. It’s like a little; it’s very depressing. But it’s dark.”

“There’s nights he’ll spend the night, because I mean, it just — first of all, I’m like, ‘I don’t want you to get in an accident.’ I mean, he drives like a big, huge F-250. So, I think he’d be fine no matter what, but whatever he hit wouldn’t be,” she added. “Just driving home, I’m also like, that’s a good 40 minutes. Back-and-forth, that’s like over an hour that, like, you could just save by staying there.”

After missing the 2025 playoffs, multiple NFL pundits put Dan Campbell along with general manager Brad Holmes on the “hot seat,” stating that they might take the beating if the Lions miss their shot again. Per GM Holmes and Campbell, the franchise made significant offseason changes and built an “elite” offensive line around Jared Goff.

With a 1-0 record heading into Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills, all eyes remain on Campbell to deliver another victory.