SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Dan Campbell was emotional as he walked out of Levi’s Stadium following the 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday night. , his arm around veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
Despite the loss, the third-year Detroit Lions head coach kept his head held high and said he had no regrets about two key failed attempts on fourth down in the second half
“In hindsight, it’s easy, I understand. I understand, but I don’t regret those decisions, it’s hard,” Campbell said. “It was hard because we didn’t make it and it didn’t work out, but I don’t know, I understood the scrutiny I would get and that was part of the show but it just didn’t work out.”
The Lions dominated the first half, leading by 17 points at halftime, but things turned around in the second quarter — including the third quarter, when they trailed 17-0, their first loss in a single quarter of the quarter. the maximum score difference. season. Rookie running back Jameer Gibbs had a costly fumble with 5:15 left in the third quarter, and the Lions committed three pass breakups in the second half.
“On third down, we hope we can convert. We tried a couple times on fourth down, and I hope we can have those,” Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said. Lived seven catches for 87 yards. “They played really well defensively in the second half. We were still moving the ball, making turnovers and stuff like that. We all had one turnover, so it was a tough game.”
One of Campbell’s decisions came on fourth-and-2 at the San Francisco 28 with 7:03 to go in the third; a pass from Lions quarterback Jared Goff The ball was incomplete to veteran wide receiver Josh Reynolds. ESPN analytics slightly favor the decision to attempt a field goal (90.5% chance of winning) over the decision to attempt a field goal (90.3%).
According to ESPN’s model, the 4th-and-3 decision at the San Francisco 30 at 7:38 of the fourth quarter is also considered a tough call, leaning very slightly toward doing so (39.1% vs. . 38.8%) ). Goff ended up throwing an incomplete pass to St. Brown.
Campbell isn’t afraid to pull the trigger on fourth down. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, the Lions competed for fourth place with a 34% losing rate during the regular season, the highest losing rate of any team this century. Goff said he liked Campbell’s decisions on fourth down, but noted they had to convert.
“I like it. Keep us out there. We should convert,” said Goff, who completed 25 of 41 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown. “He believed in us. I don’t know what the exact numbers were, but we made a lot of big transitions this year that changed the game … but if you transition them, it changes the game, and we didn’t. That’s part of the reason we failed. .”
Prior to this year’s playoffs, the Lions had not won a playoff game in more than three decades, dating to the 1991 season. Campbell said the NFC title loss felt like “having your heart ripped out,” but now the bar has been raised within the organization and among the players in the locker room moving forward.
“It’s either a Super Bowl or a bust,” Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone said. “That’s our mentality this year, and even though the outside world doesn’t necessarily think or believe that, within our team, that’s our standard and it should be our standard going forward.”
After failing to make the playoffs last season, the Lions tied the franchise record for most wins in a season (12). However, they have now lost 12 consecutive playoff road games, the longest road losing streak in NFL playoff history, with their last victory coming against the 49ers in the 1957 divisional playoffs. middle.
As a player, Campbell went to the Super Bowl with the New York Giants in 2000 but never won the championship. After the game, he told his players how difficult it is to get this deep into the playoffs and how they must use that momentum to keep going.
The goal now is to go even further next year.
“Look, I told those guys, this might be our only chance. Do I think so? No. Do I believe it? But, I know how hard it is to get here. I know that. It’s going to be two times coming back next year. It’s just as difficult as it has been this year,” Campbell said. “That’s the reality, if we don’t have the same desire and the same job, it’s a completely different story and once we get into the offseason, we don’t have a chance to get back here.
“I don’t care how well we did or what we added or what we drafted, it’s irrelevant. It’s going to be tough. But, then our division is going to reload. You can’t hide anymore Everybody’s going to want a piece of you that’s good. So, it’s hard. You want to make the most of every opportunity, and we had the opportunity, but we couldn’t close it, and it stung.”
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