Why the Lions Loss to the 49ers Falls Entirely on Dan Campbell

On the surface, the Lions loss looks like a second half offensive meltdown. In reality, Dan Campbell might be at fault

During the NFC Championship, the Cinderella story Detroit Lions, on the road against the one seed 49ers, were up by seventeen at halftime. During the whole first half, the Lions dominated. In the first three minutes of the game, the Lions' Jameson Williams scored on a forty-two yard end around. Jake Moody kicked but missed the extra point. On their next drive, the Lions once again drove all the way down the field and scored with David Montgomery. On the Niners next drive, they finally answered back with a touchdown by Christian McCaffery, making the score 14-7. But that single touchdown deficit didn't last long as, once again, the Lions drove down the field, punching in a fifteen yard rushing touchdown by Jahmyr Gibbs - their third rushing touchdown of the day. The Lions' scoring momentum continued when a turnover thanks to an interception by Malcom Rodriguez resulted in another three points before halftime.

The 49ers were on the receiving end after halftime and used their first possession to drive the length of the field in four minutes. The drive ended in a Jake Moody field goal and narrowed the score gap to only two touchdowns. Unsurprisingly, the Ben Johnson-led offence was too much for the 49ers defence, and the Lions drove all the way down to the Niners 28 yard line - an easy field goal for kicker Michael Badgley. This is Dan Campbell's first mistake; Instead of simply taking a seventeen point lead, the Lions attempt a fourth-down-and-two. Jared Goff passed to wide receiver Josh Reynolds and the ball bounced off his face mask, marking the beginning of twenty minutes of chaos.

With the 49ers well in their own territory, Brock Purdy threw deep down the field to Brandon Aiyuk. Cornerback Kindle Vildor dove backwards, nearly intercepting the pass but the ball instead bounced off Vildor's face mask and directly into the hands of intended target, Brandon Aiyuk for a 51-yard completion. In his post game press conference, when referencing the catch, Purdy told reporters, "I was like, that's insane." It seems Aiyuk had a boost of luck on his side as he referenced in his press conference, saying, "Before the game, a ladybug landed on my shoe. And you all know what that means." The Niners later scored a nine yard receiving touchdown to Aiyuk once again to make it a one score game again.

The Niners' luck continued. On the Lions' very next play from scrimmage, Gibbs fumbled the ball at their own twenty-five yard line, and Arik Armstead of the 49ers came in with a recovery. With a short field, the Niners drove down to the one yard line, where McCaffery ran in his second touchdown of the game. The Lions just could not get moving again. On third down, another drop from Reynolds forced a punt. Punter Jack Fox sent a missile into the air, bouncing upwards at the 49ers two yard line. Unfortunately, even though two players on the Lions special teams had the chance to down the ball at the one yard line, one of the Lions players touched the ball in the end zone, resulting in a touchback. With the gift of field position from the Lions, the Niners went to work, driving to the Lions thirty-three yard line - an easy completed field goal for Moody, giving San Francisco their first lead of the game. But the Niners still showed no defensive improvement, and the Lions drove the field again, stalling out at the thirty yard line. With a chance to tie the game, Campbell once again took a risk on fourth-and-three. Jared Goff threw another incompletion, giving the 49ers the ball back with them still up by three.

The Niners drove seventy yards down the field, eventually resulting in a touchdown by Elijah Mitchell. This touchdown gave the 49ers twenty-seven unanswered points, and punched their ticket to face the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. With time running short, the Lions took to the air, bringing the ball all the way to the ten yard line with under two minutes to go, and three timeouts remaining. The Lions then brought it all the way to the goal line with a hurry-up offence. With under a minute to go, Campbell - instead of continuing with what was working - chooses an easily-thwarted run attempt. Campbell takes his first timeout, and it's a crucial mistake: the Lions needed an onside kick to have a shot at the win, assuming they scored. On the very next play, Goff hits Williams in the end zone for his second touchdown of the game. Now desperate, the Lions attempt the onside kick, but it bounces into the hands of George Kittle, sealing the lid on the coffin of Detroit's Super Bowl dreams.

In the second half, the Lions were way too laid back in every sense of the word. Campbell's fourth down decisions proved questionable and costly. It's true that the Lions suffered a series of unfortunate events but the truth of the matter is that during this crucial game, Campbell's coaching choices were painfully poor and heavily contributed to their loss after a great first half. Campbell is undoubtedly an excellent head coach, and the Lions are an excellent team, but they did not play anywhere close to an excellent second half or even a passable one forcing the city of Detroit to let go of their Super Bowl aspirations.

Now we will see if the 49ers can keep their luck going to a Super Bowl win against the Kanas City Chiefs two weeks from now.