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Biting the kneecaps off multiple sclerosis never crossed my mind until Dan Campbell came to the Motor City.

Now I can’t stop thinking about this imagery the Detroit Lions head coach uses to exemplify the word that drives his National Football League team. 

It’s grit. 

“Grit” defines the culture Campbell has instilled in his team, and it’s giving me (and hopefully you) the motivation I need to continue and thrive in my fight with MS. And I’m not alone. Grit is quickly becoming a key component for MS research projects focused on improving people's resiliency and quality of life while living with this disease.

Campbell’s one-word recipe for success

Allow me — a Michigan resident and Detroit Lions fan for the past three decades — to set the stage for you. The Lions historically were not a good team. In fact, I would say they were slightly below average at best. I mean, I saw them finish the 2008 season with 0 wins and 16 losses.

I had a great feeling about Campbell following his introductory press conference as the Lions’ new head coach in 2021. It took Campbell less than two minutes to offer the quote of the century that defines his vision.

“This team is gonna take on the identity of this city … this city’s been down, and it found a way to get up,” Campbell said. “When you knock us down, we're gonna get up, and on the way up, we're gonna bite a kneecap off, and we're gonna stand up, and then it's gonna take two more shots to knock us down, and on the way up, we’re gonna take your other kneecap … before long, we’re gonna be the last one standing.”

Way to set the tone, Coach.

Campbell’s determination continued. In one of the team’s first meetings, he prominently positioned the word “Grit” on a sign at the Lion’s lecture room front wall.  

“That's the type of players we want. It's being able to overcome adversity,” he said as he pointed at the sign. “When things get hard get tough, man, you're gonna dig your heels in and go to work, and I think that kind of embodies Detroit.”

As a leader, Campbell surrounded himself with passionate players and coaches who embrace his vision to restore the Lions’ roar in Motown. 

The Lions finished their first two seasons under Campbell with records of 3-13-1 and 9-8, respectively. By the end of his third season, they finished 12-5 and made it to the NFC Championship for the first time since 1991.

By the weekend of Dec. 15 in the 2024 season, Campbell aggressively guided his team to 12 wins and one loss — tied with defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs for the best record in the NFL. With four games remaining, Detroit already had clinched a spot in the playoffs.

Getting inside a psychologist’s grip on grit

There's more to grit than being great on the gridiron. In fact, it is at the core of and University of Pennsylvania psychologist Angela Duckworth’s research into what drives people to succeed. 

Long before Dan Campbell came to Detroit, Duckworth had taken a deep dive into the factors that determined and influenced people's abilities to succeed. She found the key to their success is grit.

“‘Grit’ is a passion and perseverance for very long-term goals,” Duckworth explained in a 2013 Ted Talk. “Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out. Not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality.”

She also referenced the influence from the idea of “growth mindset” developed by Carol Dweck at Stanford University. Duckworth said this centers on believing a person's ability to learn is not fixed but can change with continued effort.

“Dweck has shown that when kids read about the brain and how it changes and grows in response to challenge, they're much more likely to persevere when they fail because they don't believe that failure is a permanent condition,” Duckworth said. 

In later discussions and interviews, Duckworth noted grit isn't always enough. People also need to make the most of their situations and utilize the people who surround them – such as mentors, teachers – and their personal and professional networks. 

Ready to get gritty with your MS?

Since I was first diagnosed with MS about 25 years ago, I always have seen it as my competition. Every day is a battle. Some days I win. Some days I lose. But I always show up to compete.

This is why Campbell’s commitment to instilling grit in his players hit home for me. Yes, I need to have grit as I tough it out with everything MS throws at me. Things such as fatigue, numbness in my limbs, bladder issues, and restless legs.

And it's not just sports speak and the Detroit Lions success that are driving home the focus on grit. I first encountered the research of Duckworth and Dweck last fall through my graduate leadership program at Wartburg College. I immediately focused on Duckworth’s concept of grit and how it could encourage all of us living with MS to stay passionate and persevere in our goals to rise above MS.

I am not the only person in the MS community turning to Duckworth and her research into grit.

She developed the Grit Scale as a way to measure a person's passion and perseverance when working toward long-term goals. Such a scale has become the impetus for major research projects into how grit can help improve the resiliency and quality of life for people who are living with MS.

Such recent projects include “Examining the Role of Resilience and Hope in Grit in Multiple Sclerosis” and “Quality of Life, Social, and Emotional Aspects of Being Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis: What’s Grit got to do With it?”

I was encouraged by these as they get at the core of ways to help us all utilize grit to stay strong in our day-to-day dealings with this disease.

Through the words and examples set by the likes of Campbell and Duckworth, staying ahead of our MS is all about the grit.

So, when MS knocks us down both literally and figuratively, we have to find a way to get back up and, on the way back up, bite off its kneecaps.