Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions did not take care of the ball on Thursday night. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Chargers welcomed football back into fans’ lives on Thursday night in the annual NFL Hall of Fame preseason game. As is often the case, it wound up an ugly affair. The Chargers handily took down the Lions, 34-7, and the tone was set with a fumble by the Lions on the opening kickoff. It was a mistaken-laden contest and Detroit’s errors led to a stern warning from Dan Campbell.

Speaking to media after the game, Campbell hammered home the importance of taking care of the ball; his team totaled five turnovers between three interceptions and two lost fumbles. He got that message across with a blunt acknowledgement that anybody who makes a habit of turning the ball over won’t be wearing a Lions uniform for very long.

“”We turned it over five times, and then we didn’t get any takeaways,” Campbell said, per NFL.com’s Kevin Patra. “So that’s hard just from that standpoint when you put your defense in that kind of position.

“You’re wearing Lions gear, you’ve got to take care of the ball, or it’s going to be hard to keep you around.”

Ball security is job security, as the old saying goes. A team with Super Bowl hopes like the Lions has to prioritize the turnover margin to win games.

It isn’t terribly surprising to see so many turnovers in the first exhibition game of the season. Nevertheless, Campbell isn’t missing the opportunity to remind everybody how important it is to avoid turning the ball over.