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Detroit Lions' Dan Campbell explains game-winning gamble on fourth down vs Packers
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- Detroit Lions' Dan Campbell explains game-winning gamble on fourth down vs Packers
He took a timeout to think about it, but really there was no debate. Half his defense came to town on Black Friday and he told players fourth-and-short was theirs during the week.
So as Jake Bates lingered on the fringe of the Detroit Lions ' sideline, awaiting his chance at a potential winning kick, Dan Campbell sent his offense back on the field on fourth-and-1 at the Green Bay 21-yard line with 43 seconds left in a tie game.
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Most coaches would kick the gimme field goal and not think twice. But not Campbell, the daringest coach in the NFL and the man in charge of the league's best team.
Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates celebrates with teammates after kicking the game-winning field goal against the Green Bay Packers for a 34-31 win at Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024.
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"I just felt like we needed to end it on offense, and I did not want to give that ball back, and I believed we could get that," Campbell said. "I believed we could convert, and I trust that O-line, I trust David (Montgomery), and they came through for us. It's a hell of a call by Ben (Johnson). I knew how I wanted to play this game, the team knew it, and everything in me told me, 'Let's finish this,' and so we did."
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Jared Goff handed the ball to Montgomery — after stumbling as he pulled out from under center when left guard Graham Glasgow stepped on his foot — and Montgomery ran for 7 yards and a first down that allowed the Lions to run the clock down to 2 seconds.
Bates then kicked the game-winning 35-yard field goal as time expired and the Lions beat the Packers , 34-31, at Ford Field for their team-record 11thstraight win.
With the victory, the Lions clinched a playoff spot for the second straight year, though Campbell and several players insisted they weren't aware of that until after the game. At 12-1, they have the best record in football and remain in control of the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs with four games to play.
Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) runs for a first down against Green Bay Packers during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024.
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"We want in, but we want in a different way," Campbell said. "We want to find a way to get this 1-seed, and that's the priority. Certainly, you've got to win the division, and then you get this 1-seed, and we took a step closer to winning this division and doing what I just mentioned. It's great. We're in the playoffs. I wish I'd have told the team. I didn't even tell them. I had no idea.
"But honestly, I think they know. I think they feel like I feel, I really believe that. It's like, 'Yeah.' I think everybody would be like, 'OK, that's great.' We'd do the old golf clap, but then we know what we want to do. And we talked about this, really even after last year, we talked about it in the spring, talked about it in training camp. We know what our goals are."
The Lions are locked in a close race with the Philadelphia Eagles (10-2) for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, but gave themselves a tick more breathing room in the NFC North with Thursday's win.
The Lions lead the Vikings (10-2) by 1½ games in the division and own the tiebreaker with Minnesota (though the teams close the regular season against each other in Detroit). Green Bay (9-4) is three games behind the Lions in third place, and the Lions have the tiebreaker with the Packers in hand.
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LIONS GRADES: Dan Campbell rolls dice on fourth downs
"We wanted it more tonight," cornerback Amik Robertson said. "I'm talking about from our head coach to their head coach, we wanted it more. We're just going to keep on stacking on this. We might see them again and it's going to be the same results."
Playing with a defense ravaged by injury and starting three front-seven defenders — Jamal Adams , Kwon Alexander and Jonah Williams — who weren't on the team a week ago, the Lions jumped to a 17-7 halftime lead and held on for the victory.
Montgomery scored his 13thrushing touchdown of the season on the game's opening possession and Goff threw two touchdown passes to Tim Patrick in a back-and-forth second half that saw the Packers tie the game on a 32-yard field goal with 3:38 to play.
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) talks to head coach Dan Campbell before a play against Green Bay Packers during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024.
The Lions started their final possession at their own 30-yard line and drove into field-goal range in three plays.
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But Frank Ragnow was called for holding on the first play after the two-minute warning and when the Lions were stopped on third-and-1 after nearly converting a second-and-17, Campbell decided to eschew the analytics and go for it on fourth down.
"We came into this game knowing we were going to do it maybe a little bit more than usual," Goff said. "Dan had mentioned that early in the week that he was going to really lean on our offense to make some things happen and certainly be aggressive on fourth down if the opportunity presented itself. There at the end, I know he was kind of in between on what he wanted to do, and obviously, he made the right decision."
Had the Lions kicked on fourth-and-1, the Packers would have gotten the ball back with about 38 seconds left and no timeouts.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur said he was "a little bit" surprised the Lions passed on a field goal on fourth-and-1, "but that's how Dan has done it throughout the course of his career."
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Campbell said the Lions needed to be extra aggressive on fourth down Thursday to protect a defense that was without seven of its top eight linemen and two of three starting linebackers plus its top backup. They converted four of five fourth downs in the game, scored touchdowns on fourth-and-goal passes to Patrick and Jahmyr Gibbs and finished with big advantages in total yards (391-298), time of possession (36:06-23:54) and offensive plays (76-45).
The Packers stopped Gibbs on a poorly-blocked fourth-and-1 toss play late in the third quarter that helped spark their comeback, but Campbell said that play never gave him pause about going for it late in the game.
"Look, when you're in it with these guys, and you've been around them long enough … there's been enough time on task with those guys … that I felt good, and I felt like we'd find a way," he said. "You'd love to say that if you're going to do that, you're going to convert every one of them, but that's not the reality. It doesn't always work that way. So, you know you're taking a high level of risk. There is risk with it, but I felt like with our guys, it wouldn't be as big of a risk as it may appear to be."
Dave Birkett will sign copies of his new book, " Detroit Lions : An Illustrated Timeline" at 7 p.m. Dec. 9 at Post Local Bistro in Plymouth.
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Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' Dan Campbell explains gutsy final-minute call
