Don’t ask Dan Campbell to change
The man who resurrected the Detroit Lions is getting killed after his team's NFC Championship meltdown. Let's remember why this team was even in this game.
The Super Bowl ticket officially slipped away and the head coach in all black spoke as if he was attending a funeral. Dan Campbell is strikingly tranquil on the sideline. The Detroit Lions head coach merely blinked and muttered directives into his headset through a preposterous NFC Championship Game.
But moments after the most crushing loss in team history — at the podium — the sport’s most animated coach was in visible pain.
“When you lose that way, it’s hard,” began Campbell, at a somber postgame presser. “You feel like you get your heart ripped out.”
Campbell then pointed a thumb over his shoulder.
“But I’m proud of that group and I’ll go anywhere with that group. You wish you could keep it all together, but that’s not the reality.”
Campbell exhaled deeply. His face stayed buried in the mic.
The first question following his Lions’ 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, of course, was the first topic you brought up to your co-worker Monday AM. No coaching job will be debated more the next seven months. Facing fourth and 2 from the San Francisco 49ers’ 28-yard line with seven minutes left in the third quarter — his Lions leading 24-10 — Campbell chose to go for it. Incomplete. Facing fourth and 3 from the 49ers’ 30-yard line with seven minutes left in the game — the Lions trailing 27-24 — Campbell opted to go for it again. Incomplete. The firestorm to these decisions was immediate.
Asked for his reasoning, Campbell started rubbing his forehead and eyes. He said he felt “really good” about the Lions converting and, as it pertains to that second attempt, Campbell didn’t want the 49ers to “play long ball,” and bleed the clock. He aimed for the Lions to reclaim the “upper hand.”
“It’s easy hindsight, and I get it,” Campbell said. “But I don’t regret those decisions. It’s hard because we didn’t come through. It wasn’t able to work out. And I understand the scrutiny I’ll get, that’s part of the gig. But we just — it just didn’t work out.”
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The opinion here? The first attempt epitomizes the killer instinct needed this time of year. Especially when you’re surviving with a bottom 10 defense. Detroit was driving, yet again, and had a golden opportunity to stick a dagger through the 49ers’ hearts. You take that shot. Instead of making this a Two-Score Game vs. Three-Score Game calculation with 22 minutes still to go, stay on the hunt for the maximum number of points. Gain two yards. Score a TD. Go up 31-10. Don’t think twice. It didn’t pan out. Wide receiver Josh Reynolds dropped a pass and the NFC’s No. 1 seed came back from the dead. Suppose I’ll agree with the mob on the second fourth-down attempt. Clot the wound, tie it up at 27-27, because at that point, Campbell was coaching a much different type of game.
Campbell is being universally castigated today. The coach has been described as a cross between a caveman and a drunken gambling addict yelling “Hit me!” with 18 at the blackjack table.
But nobody should’ve been shocked. At all.
From Day 1, Campbell has refused to follow anybody else’s coaching manual. He wasn’t Matt Patricia slapping a cockamamie “Patriot Way” on this roster. He wasn’t Jim Schwartz or Rod Marinelli or Marty Mornhinweg or anyone who’s ever tried making football relevant in this city. To resurrect one of the most wretched franchises in all of sports, Campbell knew he needed to be bold. He trusts his instincts. He believes in momentum. For the math wizards who hear words like these and roll their eyes, fine. Let’s look at the numbers. Per Yaya Dubin of CBS, the Lions faced fourth and 3 or less in the opponent’s territory 24 times into Sunday. On 20 occasions, Campbell went for it. He was successful on 17 of those 20 attempts.
Point being, the Lions had good reason to believe they’d convert.
This was no cavalier detour from reality, rather how the Lions have thrived all season long. A field goal is no guarantee, either. Ask our resident Bills and Packers readers. Michael Badgley has been hit or miss outdoors between 41 and 49 yards his entire career.
Yes, it’s the NFC Championship Game.
Yes, it’s on the road against the San Francisco 49ers.
But calling a game in the playoffs exactly as you’d call a game in the middle of the regular season is a positive. That’s what it looks like when a coach is not tight, not blinded by the lights. Campbell wasn’t going change his team’s identity simply because the stakes were raised. No doubt, there’s a thin line between bold and reckless. Thinking back to the Lions’ controversial loss to the Dallas Cowboys, it would’ve been smart for Detroit to kick an extra point after the officials’ blunder instead of going for two a second time. On Sunday, kicking the field goal on the second attempt to make it 27-27 is wise because even if the 49ers do answer with a TD? You’ve got a chance to score a TD of your own and win the game with a 2-pointer in your back pocket.
Yet, it’s also true that we all process risk differently.
We’ve known where Campbell stands since Week 3 of the 2022 season. His decision to attempt a late 54-yard kick cost Detroit a win and he was nearly as emotional during that presser. The coach had a chance to end the game by gaining three yards on fourth and 4, and passed. “I just hate the decision,” Campbell said then. “I wish I would’ve put it back in their hands offensively.” Campbell promised he’d never make that mistake again. Since then, he has not wavered and a genuine belief only grew. And grew. And pulled the Lions out of the doldrums. From sending tackle Penei Sewell out on a pass route to close out the Vikings rematch… to a fourth-and-1 throw that knocked off the Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 18… right into this 2023 season.
The Lions’ foot has not lifted off the gas pedal.
This extreme of aggressiveness is how the Lions have pulled off the impossible.
Campbell repeatedly put his team in high-pressure situations, and it built up a psychological armor. Extinguished decades of futility. Molded a roster devoid of superstars into a team fully capable of winning the Super Bowl. The Lions were imperfect all along. The secondary has been a liability, forcing Campbell and GM Brad Holmes to constantly audition new bodies. The pass rush opposite Aidan Hutchinson? Nonexistent. Meanwhile, on offense, the Lions have been piloted by a quarterback scapegoated and dumped with a treasure trove of draft picks by the Los Angeles Rams.
More than any singular transaction, three years of pure belief helped create a team capable of upsetting a supremely talented 49er bunch.
This time, simply, plays were not made. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong at the worst possible time. The dominoes, to recap:
Fourth and 2. Left tackle Taylor Decker is beat by Nick Bosa, forcing Goff to rush up into the pocket. Still, the ball hits Reynolds squarely in both hands. He drops it.
Two plays after the drop, Brandon Aiyuk breaks the game open with a 51-yard miracle reception. Brock Purdy’s heave and hope bounces directly off the facemask of Lions cornerback Kindle Vildor and into the diving arms of Aiyuk. Instead of an interception giving the ball back to Detroit, the ‘Niners score to make it 24-17.
The very first play of the Lions’ ensuing drive, Jahmyr Gibbs fumbles. San Francisco ties it at 24-24.
After the 49ers go ahead 27-24, with 8 minutes to go, Goff’s 37-yard flea flicker sails through the arms of former first-round pick Jameson Williams in the end zone.
If you want to shred the Lions for any coaching maneuver, it’s the decision to run the ball on third and goal from the 1-yard line when they were down 34-24 with 1:05 left. David Montgomery was stuffed, which forced Detroit to waste a timeout and attempt an onside kick after their TD. They would’ve had the shot at playing defense otherwise.
This was an implosion for the ages.
But one that does not quite mirror meltdowns past.
Think back to any team squandering any big lead. Passiveness almost always opens the door. The 2014 NFC Championship — the meltdown of all meltdowns — should’ve never boiled down to Brandon Bostick botching an onside recovery. Mike McCarthy coached scared all game. Downright petrified in the Legion of Boom. Through the first half, the Packers’ head coach settled for a pair of field goals at the Seahawks’ 1-yard line and then opted for a third field goal on another fourth and 1. This should’ve been a 28-0 bloodbath at halftime. Instead? The score was 16-0. Instead? McCarthy sent a terrible message to his entire team: We’re here not to lose. Everybody be safe, now. Into the second half, it was more of the same. McCarthy opted to punt on fourth and 1 from his 48. And after Julius Peppers infamously instructed Morgan Burnett to get down after picking off Russell Wilson with five minutes to go — the Packers leading 19-7 — McCarthy took the ball out of Aaron Rodgers’ hands.
Running back Eddie Lacy rammed into a brick wall three straight plays and, well, you know the rest.
McCarthy, like Campbell, had no regrets.
“Hell, I expected to win the game,” he said. “We were positioned to win the game.”
Give me the head coach who goes for the kill shot 10 out of 10 times, who actively tries to win the game instead of jostling for position.
If a receiver drops a pass, you can live with that.
If a cornerback lets an interception slip through his arms, so be it.
Afterward, Campbell didn’t slide rose-colored glasses on for his team. He straight-up told his players they may never get back to this point again.
Asked how his team learns from a loss like this, Campbell was blunt.
The Lions needed to harden their bodies and minds to get to this moment.
“One of the things that you always tell everybody who’s never been here — in-particular the younger players — is you don’t know which play is going to make the difference,” Campbell says. “You say that every game, but when you get in there with a heavyweight like San Fran, man, it is the difference. Sometimes, you can always say so much, but you’ve got to live it unfortunately. You’ve got to get your heart ripped out. Which we did. And it’s a lesson learned.
“Look, I told those guys: ‘This might’ve been our only shot.’ Do I think that? No. Do I believe that? No. However, I know how hard it is to get here. I am well aware. And it will be twice as hard to get back to this point next year than it was this year. That’s the reality. And if we don’t have the same hunger and the same work — which is a whole other thing, once we get to the offseason — then we have no shot of getting back here. I don’t care how much better we get, what we add, what we draft, it’s irrelevant. It’s going to be tough. Our division’s going to be loaded back up. You’re not hiding from anybody anymore. Everybody’s going to want a piece of you. Which is fine, which is fine. So, it’s hard. You want to make the most out of every opportunity. We had an opportunity and we just couldn’t close it out. It stinks.”
Campbell wouldn’t even reflect on the Lions’ accomplishments. The loss hurt too much to spam anyone with cliches. Refreshing.
He doesn’t belittle the public with spin. Nor does he read his resume aloud.
Gripping the lectern with both hands, Campbell knew in the moment that the 2024 Lions would look a lot different than this 2023 version. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson will take a head job somewhere. Coaches will leave. Players will leave. The level of confidence the Lions brought into Levi Stadium for this championship game was something special and, now, they’ll need to reconstruct it from the ground-up.
“Everybody thinks it’s just talent or just coachability — ‘the more talent you get or the better coaches, the more well-known, you’ll just automatically be good.’ And that’s not the truth at all,” Campbell said. “Does it help? Yeah, it helps as long as they are compatible and there’s a chemistry and there is teamwork and there is an unselfishness and you leave the egos at home. That’s hard. It’s hard to do that. So, you set it up and, now? This is going to look different. It’s got to be right again. Some of the players potentially, some of the coaches, man, you’ve got to start over. You’ve got to find the right mix, the right balance and it’s got to be right. I’m a firm believer — you won’t have a chance if it’s not. You’ll become average. Quickly.”
By no means should all NFL playoff teams stuff their kickers into a triple-padlocked cage with bread and water.
When the pressure ratchets up, however, it pays to be yourself. Campbell didn’t pucker up and pretend to be somebody else simply because there was more on the line. If Reynolds catches the ball or Vildor corrals that pick or Williams catches that touchdown or Gibbs holds onto the ball, Campbell’s brazen style is championed. Take a closer look at Vildor. He’s the sort of player who defines the Lions season itself. A 2020 fifth-round pick by the Bears, the corner out of Georgia Southern has spent his career toggling from practice squad to practice squad. The Lions are his fourth team. Called up to the active roster in December, Vildor gave the position a level of competency it sorely lacked.
And there he was, in the NFC title game, battling 1 on 1 with Ayiuk.
Vildor covered one of the sport’s best wide receivers beautifully… and failed to finish.
Predictably, Campbell defended his players. There was no throwing anybody under the bus. He said every cornerback is bound to be put on an island and seeks those who relish the challenge, offering a window into how he has built this team.
“That’s what I want and that’s what I’m looking for,” Campbell said. “What I don’t want is a player who looks scared and doesn’t get up there and challenge, but a guy who’ll go up there and mix it up and isn’t afraid of who he’s lined up over. You give up a play, you give up a play.”
Campbell wasn’t surprised that the 49ers surged in the third quarter. He was surprised the Lions could not counter in the fourth. Simple as that. He has spent three years searching for fighters who bring such a counter punch to the ring.
Coaches spend decades toggling between different styles, unsure how they should attack critical moments.
There’s no such waffling in Detroit.
That’s how the Lions even got to this improbable title game and why — one day — they’ll reach another.
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Annie Duke taught me about resulting. Separating the quality of the decision from the outcome. I think Campbell made mostly good decisions but they didn’t work out. Still a good coach that, along with his GM, have changed Detroit’s culture. No shame in this season.
But the Niners look mortal two weeks in a row while Mahomes looks inevitable.
Campbell kicks a field goal at the end of the first half to make it a three-score game with the lead at 17 points. San Francisco kicks a field goal to open the third quarter to make it a two-score game, the lead now at 14. The Lions drive the ball to the Lions 30 and faced with a fourth and short, decide to go for it? So instead of regaining the three-score lead with a 47-yard field goal to rebuild a 17 point margin--which was good enough for Campbell at halftime--he’s now a quarter and a half away from the Super Bowl and decides that 17 points later in the game isn’t enough. Campbell takes the field goal off the table and gets no points--failing on fourth and short--and hands the ball, and momentum, right back to San Francisco. Sheer stupidity.
In the fourth quarter, San Francisco kicks a field goal to go up by 3, 27-24. Detroit launches a drive deep into San Francisco territory. Faced with a fourth-and-short, Campbell opts not to tie the game late in the fourth quarter and goes for it. Goff’s pass fails. The 49ers take over and drive for a score, increasing their margin to 10 points with three minutes or so left. Had Campbell’s team kicked a field goal, they would have been down one score with three timeouts instead of two scores (10 points).
Atlanta never recovered after blowing a 25-point lead to New England in the Super Bowl. Their seasons got progressively worse. Don’t be surprised if Detroit fades away after this brain-numbing debacle and Campbell is out of football two seasons down the road.
He can blame himself. No one else.