Dan Campbell’s biggest mistake Sunday night?
It wasn’t the Detroit Lions‘ two fourth-down gambles, his third-and-goal run down two scores inside of two minutes, or his decision to burn a timeout after that run failed.
Nope, his No. 1 failure was he trusted the Lions’ offense in the second half despite having scant evidence suggesting he should.
The San Francisco 49ers are back in the Super Bowl for the second time in five years, thanks to the biggest NFC Championship Game comeback in NFL history.
But that 17-point rally was only possible because the Lions were unspeakably dumb in the second half. And while Campbell deserves plenty of blame, his team let him down more than the other way around.
San Francisco 49ers Rally Past Hapless Detroit Lions
Basically, every cliché about the Lions from the organization’s embarrassing past six decades proved to be true Sunday night.
They made basic, catastrophic gaffes that would have gotten them beat by bad teams, let alone the NFC’s best — on the road.
So, while it’s easy to point out that Campbell twice eschewed field goals for doomed fourth-down tries in a game the Lions lost by three, the game should never have been that close.
Yes, the Lions could have gone back up 17 points with seven minutes left in the third quarter had Campbell greenlit a 45-yard field goal attempt.
But he surely didn’t envision these rolling disasters in the next few series:
- A Brock Purdy deep pass that should have been picked instead bouncing off Kindle Vildor’s facemask and into Brandon Aiyuk’s grasp for a 51-yard gain.
- Jahmyr Gibbs, who lost just one fumble his entire rookie regular season, coughing up the ball on a routine carry at the Lions’ 24.
- At least two costly drops, including a would-be touchdown by Jameson Williams on a deep ball by Goff.
MORE: Detroit Lions Depth Chart
It’s hard to overstate how sick the Lions will and should be in the coming months. They had the Niners beat, and to channel Denny Green, they let them off the hook.
The Niners turned a three-score halftime deficit into a three-point victory by out-gaining the Lions by a margin of 282-162 — a stat that would have been even more lopsided if not for Detroit’s 75-yard desperation touchdown drive down two scores with two minutes to go.
Campbell certainly didn’t help things by continuing to double down on his Leeroy Jenkins strategy, but at least he was true to himself.
Only the Panthers had more than Detroit’s 40 fourth-down attempts in 2023. But in the biggest game of his life, Campbell should have known his team better.
The Lions tried a lot of fourth-down conversions but only converted 52.5% of them — a rate that ranked 15th league-wide.
Campbell on going for it on 4th down twice: pic.twitter.com/Dr36xchenA
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) January 29, 2024
“I just felt really good about us converting,” Campbell said. “… They were bleeding the clock out. That’s what they do. And I wanted to get the upper hand back.
“It’s easy hindsight, and I get it. I get that. But I don’t regret those decisions. It’s hard. It’s hard. We didn’t come through. It wasn’t able to work out. I understand the scrutiny I’ll get. It’s part of being here. But it just didn’t work out.”
For that, his players deserve as much blame as their coach — if not more so.
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