NFL Week 11 Losers: Sam Darnold’s throwback day, Dan Campbell’s decisions doom Lions

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NFL Week 11 Losers: Sam Darnold’s throwback day, Dan Campbell’s decisions doom Lions

Troy Finnegan, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Wed, Nov 19, 2025 ·

7 min read

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The post NFL Week 11 Losers: Sam Darnold's throwback day, Dan Campbell's decisions doom Lions appeared first on ClutchPoints .

After a sleep couple of Sundays, Week 11 felt like a very consequential slate in the NFL that would have major ramifications on the playoff picture and how we view some of the top teams in the league coming down the home stretch of the season.

The results backed that up. The Rams took control of the NFC West with a tight win over the Seahawks , Josh Allen re-entered the MVP conversation with a six-touchdown day against the Buccaneers, and the Broncos put the Chiefs' playoff hopes in danger with a 22-19 win in Denver .

On top of that, there were plenty of interesting coaching decisions during the Sunday slate. That is one of the biggest themes on the list of losers from the NFL Week 11 slate.

Dan Campbell 's fourth-down decisions come back to bite him

© Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Dan Campbell has become the face of the aggressive fourth-down decision making movement in recent years. Nobody goes for it on fourth down as much as the Lions do, and that's not likely to change anytime soon.

Now, Campbell is pulling the strings entirely for the Detroit offense after demoting offensive coordinator John Morton. Campbell's first week as the primary play-caller went great, as the Lions blew out the Washington Commanders . Sunday night, an ugly 16-9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the wind and cold of Philly, was not as pretty.

Jared Goff got back out in the cold weather and looked like his Los Angeles self, completing just 14-of-37 passes for 255 yards with one touchdown and one interception. However, Detroit still had a chance to win thanks to its defense, but Campbell swung and missed on fourth down time and time again.

The Lions finished 0-for-5 on fourth down in this game (and 3-for-13 on third down). They just couldn't keep the chains moving, and it ended up being the thing that knocked them out of first place in the NFC North for the time being. Running, passing, faking punts, none of it worked against an Eagles defense that is ascending and was very well-prepared for this game.

None of Campbell's decisions were wrong, and he even shockingly elected to punt down by 10 points with over five minutes to play. But when it doesn't work time and time again, it looks pretty ugly.

Chris Shula's ghosts haunt Sam Darnold again

Sam Darnold had a stellar year in 2024 with the Minnesota Vikings , but Chris Shula and the Rams defense ended it on a sour note with a dominant performance in the playoffs. Darnold played arguably his worst game of his resurgent season in that postseason game before signing with the Seahawks this offseason.

Through 10 weeks, Darnold looked like he may make a push at the MVP award this season. Week 11 offered a chance for revenge against the Rams and Shula, but things arguably got even worse for the veteran signal caller. Darnold threw four interceptions against the Rams in a 21-19 loss on Sunday that allowed Los Angeles to take control of the NFC West.

It quickly became clear on Sunday that Darnold wasn't seeing the field as well as he had been during the first half of the season. Some may even say he was seeing ghosts. Whatever the case is, this was always the fear for Seahawks fans after Darnold was brought in to replace Geno Smith this offseason. In Week 11, those fears came to life.

Darnold and the Seahawks will get another shot at the Rams in Week 16 on Thursday Night Football. That game may decide the fate of the NFC West, but it will be hard to be optimistic about that game going in with Shula on the other side.

Fourth-down decision making is set back years

In recent years, going for it on fourth down has become the cool thing to do. All across the NFL, coaches have become more aggressive on fourth downs during the rise of analytics, and the new kickoff rules that have given offenses better field position will further amplify that.

However, outside of Dan Campbell and the aforementioned Lions, that didn't seem to be the case on Sunday. Early in the day, Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles opted to punt on fourth-and-2 just shy of midfield while trailing the Bills 37-32. The problem was, Josh Allen already had five touchdowns on the day… and he's Josh Allen. He quickly added a sixth and the Bills ran away with the win.

Just minutes later, Bears head coach Ben Johnson chose to punt on fourth-and-5 at the Vikings' 40-yard line with a six-point lead instead of going for it and effectively ending the game. Chicago 's defense had been playing well, but the Bears didn't even gain 30 net yards with the decision. The Vikings made that yardage up in just three plays and went down to score a go-ahead touchdown. A big kick return allowed the Bears to kick a game-winning field goal on the last play of the game, but the decision still opened the door for Minnesota.

Later in the day, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald chose to kick a field goal inside the five-yard line on the final play of the first half. The Seahawks were struggling on offense and trailed 14-6 at the time, with the field goal making it 14-9 before the half. Seattle only got into the end zone once in the second half and went on to lose by two points.

A Falcons obituary

The Falcons have appeared in either the winners or the losers column plenty this season, but it's officially time to say goodbye to their playoff hopes in 2025. Atlanta suffered another late loss on Sunday, this one a 30-27 overtime defeat against the Carolina Panthers , to fall to 3-7 on the season.

Things continued to get worse for Atlanta during this game. Michael Penix Jr. went down with a knee injury that looks like it will end his season. Star receiver Drake London also went down with a knee injury of his own, though it looks like his is not as serious.

On top of all of that, the Falcons don't even own their first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft after trading it to the Los Angeles Rams to move back into the 2025 first round to take James Pearce Jr. The defense that had been promising with Pearce and fellow rookie Jalon Walker has started to tail off a little bit, and now it's hard to tell what there really is to look forward to in Atlanta.

Chargers ' woes up front come back to bite them

The Chargers came into the week with an improbable 7-3 record and were right in the middle of the AFC playoff picture. They are still right there, but things feel a lot bleaker after an embarrassing 35-6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars .

Defensively, the Chargers could not stop the run at all and force the Jags' putrid passing offense to beat them. Liam Coen and company controlled the game on the ground all day long and kept Justin Herbert on the sideline.

When Herbert did take the field, he was under fire all day with backup tackles against a talented Jags pass rush. The star quarterback was pressured on more than half of his dropbacks on Sunday and was forced into one of his worst games as a pro: 10-for-18 with 81 yards and an interception.

The pass protection is going to continue to be an issue for this Chargers team, as is the run defense which has major personnel limitations. Despite the solid record, it's easy to see Jim Harbaugh and company falling quickly out of the playoff picture.

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