BALTIMORE -- There were no excuses made as Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell described his team's 38-6 blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
"They kicked our ass," Campbell stated bluntly in defeat.
The Lions' hiccup at Baltimore was their first road loss of the season, as the defense allowed the most points in a game this season, with MVP candidate Lamar Jackson helping the Ravens put up 503 total yards of offense.
Winners of four straight games, the Lions entered Baltimore tied for the NFL's best record through Week 6, but Campbell said "we probably needed" the loss as a reality check to stay on track.
"You don't want these to happen, but when it does, it recenters you, it refocuses you. And that's all I know. I don't want it to happen. Nobody wants it to happen," Campbell said. "Nobody likes to look over there and watch them having a great time because they kicked our ass. Nobody thinks that's fun, but I know that motivates me for next week, it motivates our team. You'll do any and everything you can not to have that feeling again. That's all I mean by that."
Detroit had a rare opportunity to start the season 6-1 or better for the first time since 1956 but allowed the Ravens to score a touchdown on each of their first four drives to dig itself a 28-0 hole at halftime that the Lions never recovered from.
Jackson dominated the Lions, going 21-for-27 for 357 passing yards, the second most in a single game in his career. He also finished with three passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown.
"Lamar beat us. He hammered us with his arm. He threw the ball extremely well, he ran when he needed to, and we did not handle it well," Campbell said. "Our energy was good, which is crazy when you come out of a game like that and look at the score ... our energy was good, but our detail and discipline, which has been so good over the last four or five weeks was not good enough, so self-induced.
"That was a combination of a lot of different things, and just like we win as a team, we lose as a team. That was one of those."
One of the few bright spots for Detroit was rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs returning from a two-game absence because of a hamstring injury to score his first NFL touchdown off a 21-yard gain at 13:59 in the fourth. With veteran running back David Montgomery (ribs) out, he carried the bulk of the workload with 126 yards from scrimmage -- catching nine passes for 58 yards while rushing 11 times for 68 yards.
However, Gibbs says the loss to Baltimore shows the Lions that "we're not invincible."
"I think it raises the intensity in the locker room, knowing that we're not invincible," Gibbs said. "We're not invincible so everybody's going to be more tuned in on their details and what they've got to do to be more disciplined."
The Lions (5-2) will look to bounce back in their "Monday Night Football" game at Ford Field against the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 30.
Offensive tackle Taylor Decker described the Baltimore loss as "embarrassing," while quarterback Jared Goff, who failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time this season, called it "no fun" as the Lions failed to execute the way they know they're capable of against the Ravens. Goff shouldered the blame for the loss as he wants to lead his team the right way going forward based off past experiences.
"We've been through a whole lot worse than this," Goff said. "This was a tough game, we got our butts kicked, but this group has had a lot of adversity, and this is kind of our first taste of getting kicked in the teeth this year and we need to respond the right way."