Lions head coach Dan Campbell confirmed he’s not afraid to make the gutsy name, even when it’s an unpopular thought.
Late within the recreation with the Packers and Lions tied at 31, Campbell made the decision to go for it on fourth-and-inches on the Inexperienced Bay 21 with 43 seconds left.
It was a troublesome, gutsy name for Campbell to make after it first seemed like Jake Bates was going to return onto the sphere for a subject objective try.
“[Dan Campbell is] dying to go for it. But obviously, he’s gotta kick this field goal to potentially win this game, at least go ahead here by three,” Kirk Herbstreit mentioned on the Prime Video broadcast.
However Jared Goff remained on the sphere because the Lions tried the fourth down conversion.
The choice paid off — albeit was a a lot greater nailbiter than Campbell would have favored — as Goff obtained his toes twisted up as he handed the ball off to David Montgomery, who finally took the ball over the road for 7 yards and a primary down.
“I just got tripped up there a little bit,” Goff mentioned. “It’s a bad feeling when you’re a quarterback.”
That ensured the Lions may strive a subject objective with out giving the Packers the ball again, and Bates hit his third-game successful kick this season.
“I just felt like we needed to end it on offense,” mentioned Campbell who went for it on fourth down 5 instances and did not convert simply as soon as. “I did not want to give the ball back and I believed we could convert. I trust the O-line. I trust David.”
Detroit managed to drag off the win with Bates kicking the game-winning subject objective as time expired on the clock for a 34-31 victory.
“We discussed during the week that we were going to be pretty aggressive on that,” Goff mentioned on the postgame present. “Dan let us know that early in the week that ‘Hey offense we’re kind of putting this on your shoulders. We’re gonna be pretty aggressive and if there’s a chance to go for it on fourth we’re gonna do it.”
The Lions transformed 4 of their 5 fourth down alternatives towards the Packers in a vital NFC North showdown between two rival groups.
The Lions remained considered one of two one-loss groups within the NFL with Thursday’s win.
— with AP
