For the first half of the NFC Championship, it seemed like nothing could go wrong for the Detroit Lions.
Their offense was humming, seemingly poised to blow out the San Francisco 49ers.
There is a reason why they play the second half, as the Lions unfortunately learned.
The 49ers scored 27 unanswered points, which ended up being enough to secure them the victory.
Dan Campbell faced a significant amount of scrutiny after the game on social media, mainly due to a few costly fourth-down calls.
The Lions had an opportunity to kick a field goal, and while nothing is guaranteed in the NFL, that seemed to be the right decision.
While some might have thought Campbell would be ashamed of his decisions, he didn’t shy away from owning up to what happened in a postgame presser.
“I don’t regret those decisions,” Campbell said, adding, “It’s hard because we didn’t come through.”
Dan Campbell was asked about the fourth down decisions, which didn’t work.
“I don’t regret those decisions. And that’s hard. It’s hard because we didn’t come through. It wasn’t able to work out. But I don’t. And I understand the scrutiny I’ll get. That’s part of the gig, man.” pic.twitter.com/hG6sVYraab
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 29, 2024
Fans can call it ignorance, or a lack of football knowledge, but Campbell seems to have an unwavering trust in his team to follow his game plan.
He believes that they can do anything they set their minds to, but in this game, things didn’t work out as planned.
Assuming that the organization keeps him around, it will be interesting to see if Campbell changes his tune in 2024.
The Lions had a legitimate chance to win this game, and while he is confident, his decision-making could be questioned by the organization in the offseason.
Will the Lions have a chance to redeem themselves next season?
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