ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — The banged-up Detroit Lions took some serious hits in their loss to the Buffalo Bills.
“Nobody cares,” coach Dan Campbell said Monday. “Nobody is going to give us a pass, or put an asterisk next to your record."
Running back David Montgomery and defensive tackle Alim McNeill need to have season-ending knee surgeries after both were hurt in the setback to Buffalo, Campbell said. Khalil Dorsey had season-ending surgery Sunday night after breaking his leg against the Bills.
The Lions will also be indefinitely without cornerback Carlton Davis III, who had a jaw injury in the 48-42 loss to Buffalo that ended their franchise-record, 11-game winning streak.
“Not sure how long that’s going to be, I just know in the immediate future, I don’t see it,” Campbell said.
Detroit's roster has been decimated, putting 18 players on injured reserve and the latest wave will push that total past 20.
The Lions have lost six starters on defense from their Week 1 lineup, including defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who broke his leg two months ago at Dallas.
Detroit (12-2) has overcome the series of injuries, which have hit the defense particularly hard, well enough to win 11 straight games before losing to Buffalo.
The setback allowed Philadelphia to pull into a tie with Detroit for top seeding in the NFC and gave Minnesota a chance to share first place in the NFC North with three games left in the regular season. The Vikings close the regular season at Detroit.
“Sometimes, you got to get punched in the face,” Campbell said. “This is good for us. We’re going to use this to our advantage and get ready for a division opponent on the road.”
The Lions play at Chicago on Sunday.
Montgomery will miss an opportunity to play against his former team and to help Detroit attempt to at least reach the Super Bowl for the first time in team history. He played through his knee injury against the Bills, who limited him to 4 yards rushing on five carries and four catches for 31 yards.
“David is so tough,” Campbell said.
Montgomery ran for 775 yards and 12 touchdowns, rotating with speedy running back Jahmyr Gibbs, and had 36 receptions for 341 yards.
“We're going to miss him,” Campbell said.
McNeill will leave a big void on the defensive line, a position group that had seven players on injured reserve before the standout defensive tackle was injured. He had seven tackles for losses, tied for the team lead with Hutchinson and linebacker Alex Anzalone, who is also on injured reserve.
Davis defended 11 passes, trailing only Brian Branch's total, and had two interceptions, ranking third on the team this season.
Dorsey was among the top tacklers on special teams and returned four kickoffs, including one for 72 yards to help Detroit pull away in a tied game with Tennessee.
“Some guys are going to have an unbelievable opportunity,” Campbell said. “You’re a guy who’s on the vet squad or you’re a young player or you’re somebody that’s been dying to get an opportunity, you’re about to get it.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) makes a catch in front of Detroit Lions cornerback Carlton Davis III (23) during the second half of an NFL football game in Detroit, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Trainers check on Detroit Lions cornerback Khalil Dorsey (30) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell speaks at a news conference after an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced the biggest test of his political career after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, long one of his most powerful and loyal ministers, announced Monday that she was resigning from the Cabinet.
The stunning move raised questions about how much longer the prime minister of nearly 10 years can stay on in his role as his administration scrambles to deal with incoming U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Trudeau's popularity has plummeted due to concerns about inflation and immigration.
Opposition leader Jagmeet Singh, whose party Trudeau's ruling Liberals have relied upon to stay in power, called on Trudeau to resign. The main opposition Conservatives demanded an election.
Freeland, who was also deputy prime minister, said that Trudeau had told her Friday that he no longer wanted her to serve as finance minister and that he offered her another role in the Cabinet. But she said in her resignation letter to the prime minister that the only “honest and viable path” was to leave the Cabinet.
“For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada,” Freeland said.
Freeland and Trudeau disagreed about a two-month sales tax holiday and $250 Canadian ($175) checks to Canadians that were recently announced. Freeland said that Canada is dealing with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's threat to impose sweeping 25% tariffs and should eschew “costly political gimmicks" it can “ill afford.”
“Our country is facing a grave challenge,” Freeland said in the letter. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war.”
A Liberal party official said Freeland was offered a position as minister in charge of Canada-U.S. relations without portfolio and without a department. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said the position would have been in name only and wouldn't have come with any of the tools Freeland previously had when she negotiated trade with the U.S.
The resignation comes as Freeland, who chaired a Cabinet committee on U.S. relations, was set to deliver the fall economic statement and likely announce border security measures designed to help Canada avoid Trump's tariffs. The U.S. president-elect has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico unless they stem the numbers of migrants and drugs.
Trudeau has said that he plans on leading the Liberal Party into the next election, but some party members have said they don't want him to run for a fourth term, and Freeland's departure came as strong blow to Trudeau's administration.
"This news has hit me really hard,” Transport Minister Anita Anand said, adding that she needed to digest the news before commenting further.
Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said that the government is losing control at the worst possible time.
“Justin Trudeau has lost control, but he's hanging onto power,” Poilievre said. “All this chaos, all this division, all this weakness is happening as our largest neighbor and closest ally is imposing 25% tariffs under a recently elected Trump with a strong mandate, a man who knows how to identify weakness."
No Canadian prime minister in more than a century has won four straight terms.
The federal election has to be held before October. The Liberals must rely on the support of at least one other major party in Parliament, because they don’t hold an outright majority themselves. If the opposition New Democratic Party, or NDP, pulls support, an election can be held at any time.
“I’m calling on Justin Trudeau to resign. He has to go,” NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said.
Trudeau’s Liberal party needs the support of the NDP party to stay in power. Singh didn't say if he would note no confidence in the government but said all options are on the table.
“Mr. Trudeau’s government is over,” Opposition Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet said. “He must acknowledge that and act accordingly. The departure of his most important ally, his finance minister, is the end of this government.”
Trudeau channeled the star power of his father in 2015, when he reasserted the country’s liberal identity after almost a decade of Conservative Party rule. But the son of late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is now in big trouble. Canadians have been frustrated by the rising cost of living and other issues like immigration increases following the country’s emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As a country we have to project strength,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said. “It’s chaos right now up in Ottawa.”
Trudeau’s legacy includes opening the doors wide to immigration. He also legalized cannabis and brought in a carbon tax intended to fight climate change.
Freeland said in the resignation letter that Canadians “know when we are working for them, and they equally know when we are focused on ourselves. Inevitably, our time in government will come to an end."
Freeland's resignation comes as Trudeau has been trying to recruit Mark Carney to join his government. Carney is the former head of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada.
He was so well regarded after helping Canada dodge the worst of the global economic crisis that the U.K. named him the first foreigner to serve as governor of the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694.
Carney has long been interested in entering politics and becoming the leader of the Liberal Party. It wasn't immediately clear if Carney has agreed to join Trudeau's Cabinet.
“This is quite a bombshell,” said Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. “Freeland was not only finance minister but also deputy prime minister and, until a couple of years ago, was seen as Trudeau’s heir as Liberal leader and prime minister.”
Wiseman said that leaks from the prime minister’s office suggest that she was a poor communicator and made Freeland’s status questionable.
“There was talk about her becoming foreign minister again and that would have been a good fit for her, but the stab in the back from the prime minister's office cast the die,” Wiseman said.
Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, also called it a political earthquake and not just because Freeland was the second most powerful official in government.
"Also because of how she resigned: by publishing a letter on social media that clearly criticizes the prime minister only hours before she was supposed to present the government’s fall economic statement,” Béland said.
“This is clearly a minority government on life support but, until now, the (opposition) NDP has rejected calls to pull the plug on it. It’s hard to know whether this resignation will force the NDP to rethink its strategy.”
Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, right, and Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc arrive for a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland delivers remarks on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland delivers remarks on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
