DETROIT – Dan Campbell was blunt about what happened when the Detroit Lions botched their final possession of the first half against the Buccaneers.
The Lions trailed the Buccaneers by seven points during their final possession of the first half, but they marched down the field into the red zone with less than 30 seconds remaining.
They used their final timeout with 28 seconds left, and picked up a first down at the 17-yard line on the following play.
That’s when it all fell apart.
After Jared Goff threw an incomplete pass on first down, he hit Amon-Ra St. Brown in the middle of the field for an 8-yard gain to the 9-yard line.
The clock was ticking down, and the Lions didn’t have a timeout, so Goff rushed the offense to the line to spike the ball to set up a field goal attempt.
But unfortunately, the field goal unit was already halfway onto the field. The Lions were called for having too many men, and that penalty came with a 10-second runoff that ended the first half.
The Lions settled for no points. That turned out to be a costly mistake, as they lost by four points and twice could have kicked go-ahead field goals in the final minutes.
The FOX broadcast team asked Campbell about what happened at halftime.
“Listen, 100% on the head coach there, alright?” Campbell said. “I totally screwed my team. That is mine. We’re going for the clock it, it’s not a hurricane and I made a decision that I shouldn’t have made, and our team’s gonna have to overcome it. That’s the bottom line.”
Campbell deserves credit for owning his share of blame, but there’s more to go around. He’s certainly not the only coach who told the field goal unit to take the field, and Goff should have known better than to throw the ball short of the goal line in that situation.
The ultimately blame lies with the head coach, but the Lions have a veteran offense that shouldn’t have made such a mistake.
