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The Detroit Lions made a number of mistakes in yesterday’s 29-22 loss to the rival Green Bay Packers. But there was a big one that Lions head coach Dan Campbell is taking responsibility for.
Early in the third quarter, the Lions had a fourth down from deep in their own territory. But rather than punt the ball away, they instead called a fake punt with the runner falling well short of the line to gain.
That turnover on downs helped set up the Packers for an easy touchdown drive that made the game 29-14. The Lions could only muster one more score the rest of the game.
Afterwards, Campbell said that the play was on him. He admitted that it was a “bad call” and he shouldn’t have made his players do it.
“Yeah, look, that’s a bad call on me,” Campbell told reporters, via ProFootballTalk. “That’s a bad call. You know, I shouldn’t have done that to those guys. That’s a bad call. It’s a bad call. On me. It is. Shouldn’t have done that.”
Dan Campbell on Lions’ fake punt: Bad call by me, I shouldn’t have done that. https://t.co/KWP25dJWs0
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) November 24, 2023
It was a risk that had paid off for Campbell and the Lions in the past. Earlier this season it worked in their upset win over the Chiefs, but that was a 4th-and-2, not 4th-and-3.
Football is a game of inches and that proved to be the case yesterday.