DETROIT – Dan Campbell took a lot of criticism for his decision to try an early onside kick against the Bills, but did he actually cost the Detroit Lions the game?
What happened
The Lions scored a touchdown with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter to cut the Bills' lead from 17 points to 10.
It was 38-28, and Campbell decided to take matters into his own hands.
A new NFL rule requires teams to declare an onside kick, so the Bills knew it was coming. Still, Jake Bates executed beautifully, and the ball took a perfect high hop on the second bounce toward the sideline.
But Mack Hollins made a great play, jumping up and tipping the ball to himself. If he hadn’t, the kick almost certainly would have been recovered by a Lions player streaking right behind him.
The situation was exacerbated by Hollins returning the kick all the way to the 5-yard line. The Bills scored on the next play to regain their 17-point lead.
READ: The comment from Tony Romo that infuriated Lions fans during loss to Bills
Social media blows up
Campbell got blasted across social media. Pretty much everyone from Lions fans to national analysts roasted him for the decision.
The criticism increased tenfold because of how disastrously the play turned out. And fans were already frustrated because the Lions fell behind early in the game and never quite found a way to claw back.
But just because disagreeing with Campbell is the popular opinion doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right one.
Why Dan Campbell chose onside kick
It’s pretty obvious why Campbell elected to try an onside kick, even if he won’t just come out and say it.
His defense stunk. It’s not entirely their fault -- injuries have completely decimated that unit, including two more key losses Sunday as Alim McNeill and Carlton Davis went down.
Here’s a list of the Buffalo drives on Sunday, not counting the one that ended the first half or the kneel-downs at the end of the fourth quarter:
- Touchdown (seven plays, 73 yards).
- Touchdown (nine plays, 78 yards).
- Touchdown (nine plays, 70 yards).
- Missed field goal (five plays, 64 yards).
- Touchdown (four plays, 70 yards).
- Punt (eight plays, 37 yards).
- Touchdown (five plays, 26 yards).
- Field goal (seven plays, 38 yards).
- Touchdown (one play, 5 yards) -- this was after the onside kick.
- Field goal (10 plays, 47 yards).
Do you see where I’m going with this? Even if you take out the touchdown after the onside kick, the Lions allowed six touchdowns and two field goal attempts in nine drives.
They got one stop the entire game -- and even that came after an eight-play drive that chewed up 4:13 of game clock.
If you watched the game, you had to know there was no way the Lions were going to stop Josh Allen and the Bills. Why should Campbell do the same thing over and over and expect different results?
PLAYOFFS: Do Lions still automatically get No. 1 seed if they win their final 3 games?
Considering what had happened up to that point in the game, he didn’t want to kick that ball back to the Bills and let them run out valuable clock before scoring anyways.
In fact, that’s exactly what happened the following possession, when Campbell did what everybody wanted him to do and kicked the ball deep. Allen led a six-minute drive that ended with a field goal.
Campbell had to try something. Was it a little crazy? Sure! But I found it refreshing that a coach had the courage and self-awareness to look at the game and say, “OK, yeah, my defense isn’t going to get a stop. Might as well try something new.”
Most coaches would just accept the loss at that point so they could go to the podium after the game and mumble, “I still had faith in my defense.” There’s nothing worse than that -- coaches sacrificing even a small chance to win a game just to save face in the locker room.
Why I respect his decision
This is the same type of situation as the NFC Championship Game in San Francisco, when fans wanted Campbell to put last season on the leg of a practice squad kicker from 48 yards away.
I respect what Campbell did on Sunday because he was willing to risk taking criticism to do what he thought gave his team the best chance to win.
If the Lions had punted with 12 minutes left and the Bills marched down the field and scored, nobody would have blamed him. They would have just pointed to the defensive injuries or complained about Aaron Glenn.
But Campbell, unlike most coaches in the league, actually coaches to win games. He could have kicked it deep to lose by fewer points -- the conventional, accepted way that nobody would criticize.
He obviously thought that the best chance his team had to come back was to recover an onside kick. So I commend him for having the courage to go through with it.
Nobody could have predicted that the Bills would return the kick all the way to the 5-yard line. That was a fluke. And it didn’t matter -- we all know the Bills would have scored from wherever they started the drive.
A message to Dan Campbell: Don’t change
Nobody is going to be able to change fans' minds about this, and I understand the opposing point of view. That onside kick was bold, to say the least, and it didn’t work out, so a certain amount of second-guessing is to be expected.
But if I was in a room with Campbell right now, I’d tell him one thing: “Don’t change.”
Campbell said after the game that he regrets the decision. But whether he was right or wrong, The last thing the Lions need is for him to start second-guessing himself.
No matter how much criticism he takes this week on social media or sports talk radio, Campbell shouldn’t let it affect the way he coaches this football team.
If the Lions had kicked the ball deep instead of that onside kick, they almost certainly would have lost the game. We can all agree on that, right? But if they had somehow recovered that onside kick, they would have had a real chance.
People are always intimidated when the status quo is challenged, and that’s exactly what Campbell does with his coaching style. You’re not supposed to go for fourth down as much as he does. You’re not supposed to try an onside kick so early in the game.
But his aggressive coaching style has benefitted the Lions far more often than it’s hurt them. So I hope he can tune out the noise and stay true to what’s gotten the Lions to this position in the first place.
