Title Game Weekend Thread

[FantasyFreak]

Yeah, I agree. I think it's possible the Lions have peaked. This was their real shot at a SB. The division is getting tougher, they are likely losing their OC, and they stayed fairly healthy this year. You need things to go right sometimes, and while they do have a good young roster, there is no guarantee they can get back again.

He may not regret it, but Lions fans will likely be haunted by this game and his decisions for a long, long time.

I think the Gibbs fumble and the Aiyuk catch off the DBs facemask, and the dropped 4th down passes will haunt them more.

Anyone blaming Dan Campbell for the 4th down try is reaching.

If it works people praise him for having the balls to make that call. If it doesn't people act like it was the worst decision of all time.

At the end of the day it was an aggressive play that just didn't work out. He's been doing this all year and that's a big part of what got this team here.

If you're divvying blame here these plays impacted the game much more than the 4th down conversion attempt

Anyone who ISN'T blaming him for the 4th down call is reaching.

At the end of the day, it was a negligent call, and it was the catalyst that swung the game in the 49ers favor.

People all around the football world seem to like to chalk bad decision making up to "it was just aggressive". I refuse to believe that narrative. While it certainly was aggressive, that's not all it was. It was also stupid.

Oh, and by the way.

Dan Campbell mismanaged the clock LAST WEEK, TOO. He gave the BUCS a chance, and the BUCS screwed up. This is a trend. The Dallas game, the TB game, the NFC Title Game.

The Lions version of Goldberg doesn't seem to know WTF he's doing in key situations. At all.

[frerichs5]

And if they’d kicked a field goal on one of the drives and missed, everyone would be asking why they kicked a field goal when they’ve gone for it all year.

Remember, their kicker is less than 70% on his career over 40 yards. Not some gimme high 80% or 90% that was mentioned. I saw a stat today he hasn’t actually made a kick over 45 yards that wasn’t in a dome since 2020.

It doesn’t matter what Campbell decided. When it doesn’t work out, people will second guess them.

[killer_of_giants]

And if they’d kicked a field goal on one of the drives and missed, everyone would be asking why they kicked a field goal when they’ve gone for it all year.

Remember, their kicker is less than 70% on his career over 40 yards. Not some gimme high 80% or 90% that was mentioned. I saw a stat today he hasn’t actually made a kick over 45 yards that wasn’t in a dome since 2020.

It doesn’t matter what Campbell decided. When it doesn’t work out, people will second guess them.

this hindsight trope is getting boring.

having done something all year doesn't necessarily mean you have to keep doing it regardless of the circumstances.

if you don't trust your kicker to kick between 45 and 50 yards, having him as your kicker in a conference final game is gross negligence.


and on the last line, something that i find quite ironic: some on here, you included, are defending the choice even if it didn't work out. so "people" will second-guess based only on results, but you don't... cos you're better? cos you're not people? in the same way as you are saying that it was the correct decision, just a bad results, some would do the same thing if they kicked a FG and missed.
in short, it reads like "you guys only criticize the decision because of the result. i'm objective enough (unlike you) to judge the decision in itself."

[yinzername]

the Lions played the same game they have all year, as they should. the second 4th down attempt was well executed, ball just got dropped. and there-in lies the real issue; a fumble, a handful of key dropped passes, and a lucky bounce the other way. had those key execution errors and one bad break not happened, those 4th down calls, made or not, would not be the issue at all.

[lic217]

My biggest take away for this weekend is that the 49ers and the Chiefs did not win those games but rather the ravens and the Lions lost those games. Way too many 15 yards stupid penalties by the ravens. Plus a couple turnovers. Then for the Lions two drop passes and fumble were absolutely the number one reason I think they lost. Although I also think on those fourth attempts going for a feild goal is the right call. I think playoff football is different than regular season football . The team that makes the least amount of mistakes usually wins. If you are going to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs, they are not going to give it to you. They do not make many mistakes in these big moments.

[frerichs5]

And if they’d kicked a field goal on one of the drives and missed, everyone would be asking why they kicked a field goal when they’ve gone for it all year.

Remember, their kicker is less than 70% on his career over 40 yards. Not some gimme high 80% or 90% that was mentioned. I saw a stat today he hasn’t actually made a kick over 45 yards that wasn’t in a dome since 2020.

It doesn’t matter what Campbell decided. When it doesn’t work out, people will second guess them.

this hindsight trope is getting boring.

having done something all year doesn't necessarily mean you have to keep doing it regardless of the circumstances.

if you don't trust your kicker to kick between 45 and 50 yards, having him as your kicker in a conference final game is gross negligence.


and on the last line, something that i find quite ironic: some on here, you included, are defending the choice even if it didn't work out. so "people" will second-guess based only on results, but you don't... cos you're better? cos you're not people? in the same way as you are saying that it was the correct decision, just a bad results, some would do the same thing if they kicked a FG and missed.
in short, it reads like "you guys only criticize the decision because of the result. i'm objective enough (unlike you) to judge the decision in itself."

Get off your high horse. Tell me where in my post where I said anything was the correct decision. Heck, go back earlier in this thread and find where I agreed with a post that it was probably a bad decision.

How dare I point out that if it had played out differently I think a lot of people would likely still disagree with it.

And I agree, if they kicked and missed, yes some would say it was the right call. My belief, the majority would not. They’d have then said they should have gone for it. If you disagree, so be it. We’re all entitled to our opinions.

Of course I second guess things. I’m a person too. Give me a break. Lol

[Menace2010]

https://www.nbcsports.com/fantasy/footb ... hing-wrong

[FantasyFreak]

https://www.nbcsports.com/fantasy/footb ... hing-wrong

Denny Carter doesn't know jack sh@t.

[FantasyFreak]

And if they’d kicked a field goal on one of the drives and missed, everyone would be asking why they kicked a field goal when they’ve gone for it all year.

Remember, their kicker is less than 70% on his career over 40 yards. Not some gimme high 80% or 90% that was mentioned. I saw a stat today he hasn’t actually made a kick over 45 yards that wasn’t in a dome since 2020.

It doesn’t matter what Campbell decided. When it doesn’t work out, people will second guess them.

this hindsight trope is getting boring.

having done something all year doesn't necessarily mean you have to keep doing it regardless of the circumstances.

if you don't trust your kicker to kick between 45 and 50 yards, having him as your kicker in a conference final game is gross negligence.


and on the last line, something that i find quite ironic: some on here, you included, are defending the choice even if it didn't work out. so "people" will second-guess based only on results, but you don't... cos you're better? cos you're not people? in the same way as you are saying that it was the correct decision, just a bad results, some would do the same thing if they kicked a FG and missed.
in short, it reads like "you guys only criticize the decision because of the result. i'm objective enough (unlike you) to judge the decision in itself."

I would have disagreed with the decision either way. It's not like if they had got it, they were guaranteed a TD. They may have fumbled, thrown and INT the next play, taken a sack, ended up with a similar FG attempt. The FG attempt was the right call, regardless of the outcome, going for it was not. I thought it was a poor decision before the outcome was known. Same with going for it the 2nd time, when they could have tied the game.

As I said earlier, Campbell doesn't know how to manage situation football well. From the Dallas game, to the Bucs game, to this most recent game, he's shown an inability to do so, and it's cost his team multiple times. The Bucs game he lucked out, because the other coach was a dolt on that day as well.

[Sriracha]

Anyone who ISN'T blaming him for the 4th down call is reaching.

At the end of the day, it was a negligent call, and it was the catalyst that swung the game in the 49ers favor.

People all around the football world seem to like to chalk bad decision making up to "it was just aggressive". I refuse to believe that narrative. While it certainly was aggressive, that's not all it was. It was also stupid.

Oh, and by the way.

Dan Campbell mismanaged the clock LAST WEEK, TOO. He gave the BUCS a chance, and the BUCS screwed up. This is a trend. The Dallas game, the TB game, the NFC Title Game.

The Lions version of Goldberg doesn't seem to know WTF he's doing in key situations. At all.

I really don't understand this take.

The momentum was already swinging before this happened when SF drove straight down the field on their first possession of the 2nd half.

Josh Reynolds dropped the ball on 4th down. He didn't call a horrendous play that had no chance of succeeding. He had a guy open, the ball was delivered and the receiver dropped the ball. That's an execution error not any different than a Kicker missing the field goal.

People overestimate the "bird in hand" with these types of decisions. An NFL kicker is absolutely not guaranteed to make a long field goal. In fact, their Kicker is fairly bad at making them with a career 45% success rate from 48+ yards. The Lions have a better conversion rate on 4th and 3 on the year.

Why is it the better decision to kick a field goal with a worse chance of going in when the reward for making the first down is better, as well?

I don't know if going for it there or attempting a field goal is the "right play" but only through sheer hindsight bias could you call this decision "stupid".

[wickerkat1212]

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

[Bronco Billy]

Astounding. We know what the outcome was after Campbell stuck to his guns, pissing away a 17 pt lead in less than a quarter and giving his team literally no chance to win at the end, and yet there are still some defending him. They want to blame Reynolds for the drops but want to completely ignore the decisions to put Reynolds in those positions with Campbell’s poor decisions and putting him in those positions despite having ARSB, LaPorta and Gibbs on the roster yet relying on Reynolds to dig them out from under those bad decisions.

Yeah, the fumble hurt and yet the fluke tipped ball hurt, but those are plays that happen in the course of a game whereas Campbell’s f ups were premeditated flops. A HC can’t compound those in-game mistakes by making so many “well thought out” screw ups of his own.

This isn’t a week 5 game against MIN that may cost a regular season win if those choices go sideways. These cost a trip to the SB playing at the #1 seed’s home where one FG would have extended their lead back to 3 scores more than halfway through the 3rd Q, another that would have tied the game after they blew the lead, and then the 3rd that removed any possibility of getting the ball back at the end to try to tie or win.

This goes on Campbell first and foremost. You do things differently on the road in the playoffs and it’s amazing that actually has to be explained to some. And then his post game comments show no remorse for his screwing his team out of a SB berth.

[mild]

this hindsight trope is getting boring.

having done something all year doesn't necessarily mean you have to keep doing it regardless of the circumstances.

if you don't trust your kicker to kick between 45 and 50 yards, having him as your kicker in a conference final game is gross negligence.

I actually kinda think this is wrong.

It's been Dan Campbell's identity all season long, and he's generated +EV on a whooooole lot of 4th downs by going for it. We've rightfully praised him for it. What, now it's a dumb idea just because it didn't work out? That's the real hindsight from the cheap seats here imo.

The only truly bad decision he made in this game was the run on 3rd down that ensured he had to attempt a 4% chance onside kick. Everything else? Consistent with what he's told us he'll do all season, and defensible.

If you're not consistent to yourself with what you've been saying you'll do all season, then why the charade for the first 19 games?

I think Players benefit from having a Coach who is consistent in their decision making. Why suddenly change who you are in the biggest game of the year, when this exact aggression is what got you to the big dance in the first place?

[murphysxm]

The only decision I think he got wrong was running the ball on 3rd in the last minute. Everything else made sense to me. One of the most tenured players on the roster and team leader is publicly saying how Campbell is the best coach he has ever had. At the end of the day his players love him and have no qualms with how the game played out. Our opinions don't matter. Do any of you have a single Lions fan that have said a negative thing about Dan Campbell or any of this?

[Sriracha]

Astounding. We know what the outcome was after Campbell stuck to his guns, pissing away a 17 pt lead in less than a quarter and giving his team literally no chance to win at the end, and yet there are still some defending him. They want to blame Reynolds for the drops but want to completely ignore the decisions to put Reynolds in those positions with Campbell’s poor decisions and putting him in those positions despite having ARSB, LaPorta and Gibbs on the roster yet relying on Reynolds to dig them out from under those bad decisions.

What's astounding is the jump in logic it takes to somehow blame a WR dropping a WIDE OPEN pass on a coach putting him in the position to MAKE A PLAY -- which is what these guys are paid to do.

Sure, those are better playmakers but the opposing defense also knows that and are going to put significantly more defensive resources into stopping them.

You guys are old-school and are part of the dying conservative guard that prefers to punt on 4th and inches at the 50 rather than trusting your team to make a play that could be the nail in the coffin vs a MORE TALENTED TEAM already mounting a comeback.

I'm not saying that approach is wrong but to unilaterally say that playing to win instead of not-lose is "stupid" or a "poor decision" is insanity.

I'm not saying Campbell didn't have some blame for this loss.. there were other parts of the game that were somewhat questionable but to pin this collapse solely on his decision to go for the knockout blow instead of attempting a long field goal is strange.