DETROIT – The Detroit Lions have won a playoff game for the first time in 30 years, but it sure wasn’t easy. Dan Campbell had to make some very tough calls to help the Lions hold on for a one-point victory over the Rams.
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When the Lions hired Campbell three years ago, he was an inexperienced, first-time head coach. He’s gone through some in-game growing pains along the way, but on Sunday night, at the first-ever playoff game inside Ford Field, he made all the right decisions.
4th down at 2-yard line
Ben Johnson, Jared Goff, David Montgomery, and Jahmyr Gibbs made Campbell’s job very easy on the first two drives of the game.
The Lions got the ball first and drove 75 yards into the end zone without ever facing a third down. Their longest second down was a 2nd and 4.
On the second drive, the Lions needed only five plays to march 75 yards for another touchdown. After a three-yard gain on the first play, Detroit gained chunks of 10, 14, 33, and 10 yards to finish the drive. That made Campbell’s job pretty easy.
His first true test came at the end of the third drive, after the Lions had already marched 73 yards down to the 2-yard line. They faced a 4th and 1, but it wasn’t inches -- this was a long yard.
Campbell never hesitated. Even though the Lions could have gone up by seven points with a field goal, he knew they were going to win that game with touchdowns, not kicks.
Goff rewarded his coach’s confidence with a perfect strike to Sam LaPorta in the back of the end zone.
Obviously, since the final score was 24-23, those extra points made a big difference.
Holding penalty
Most of Campbell’s decisions during the middle part of the game were fairly clear-cut. He had to try a 54-yard field goal with Michael Badgley because the Lions faced a 4th and 17. There were no other plausible fourth-down opportunities, and the Lions were never really in position to need a trick play or take a risk on special teams.
But with the Rams driving down the field in the final minutes of the game and the Lions up by one point, Campbell faced his toughest choice.
Keep in mind: Other than running out the clock at the end of the first half, the Rams had scored on five of their first six drives. Three of those five scores were field goals, but in this instance, a field goal would have been enough to take the lead.
The stakes were at an all-time high.
Matthew Stafford threw an incomplete pass on 3rd and 4 from the Lions’ 34-yard line, meaning the Rams would have faced the choice of going for fourth down or kicking a 52-yard field goal. But a holding penalty was called on the Rams, giving Campbell the option to push them back to 3rd and 14 on the 44-yard line.
Brett Maher had made all three of his field goal attempts in the game, but none of them was even as long as an extra point -- and he was only 3-for-7 from 50+ yards this season.
Campbell wasn’t worried about the other team’s players, though. His defense had played well in the second half, keeping the Rams out of the end zone on the first three drives. He elected to accept the penalty and give them another chance on third down.
Once again, he pushed the right button. Stafford threw incomplete to Puka Nacua and the Rams had no choice but to punt.
They never got the football back.
Passing on final drive
The final decision I want to highlight is the willingness of Campbell and Johnson to be aggressive on the final drive with a chance to ice the game.
Detroit got the ball back with 4:07 on the clock, and the Rams only had one timeout. Many coaches would have gone ultra conservative and simply tried to run as much clock as possible.
But the Lions went for the kill.
The second play of the drive was a short pass to Montgomery, who turned upfield and gained 11 yards to move the chains. Then, facing a 2nd and 9 after the 2-minute warning, the Lions went back to the air, trusting Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown to make a play.
Goff found St. Brown for an 11-yard gain that moved the chains and clinched Detroit’s first playoff victory since Jan. 5, 1992.
Final thoughts
Campbell hasn’t always made the right calls this season. No coach does. And he will make mistakes in the future.
But Detroiters wanted this game badly -- especially since it was against Stafford -- and Campbell came through. When some of his decisions backfire in the future, remember what he did when the lights were brightest.
