Although the Lions were able to ride the desire of head coach Dan Campbell to go for it all the way to the NFC Championship Game, they were not able to ride it all the way to the Super Bowl by themselves.
During the second half of Sunday's 34-31 loss to the 49ers, Detroit was unable to convert two fourth downs in 49ers territory. The decisions to pass up field goals were a significant topic of discussion between the players and coaches after the game's conclusion.
The 49ers were leading the Lions by a score of 27-24 in the fourth quarter when they attempted to kick a field goal. However, Jared Goff threw an incomplete pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Josh Reynolds was unable to catch the ball that was sent to him in the third quarter.
Campbell stated that he did not have any regrets regarding the decisions that were made after the game, while Goff stated that he "loved them" while also pointing out that the squad needs to make a conversion whenever they put themselves in dangerous circumstances.
"He believes in us," Goff stated, as reported by Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. "I don't know what the numbers are, but this year we had a lot of big-time conversions that changed games, and I don't know what we were like today
I don't know what these numbers are." I am aware that we had the two that we did not take in. If we were to convert them, it may radically alter the course of the game. Moreover, this is one of the reasons why we were unsuccessful.
However, the horse that the Lions rode to the conference championship game tossed them off in the second half. Without Campbell's willingness to play the risks in big situations, the Lions almost surely would not have been in Levi's Stadium on Sunday
Because of this, it will be a very long time before we find out whether Campbell and the Lions will approach the situation in a different manner the next time around.
STAY TURNED FOR DEVELOPMENT