Dan Campbell thought it’d be easy.
The Lions faced a third-and-goal from the 49ers’ 1-yard line and the Detroit coach assumed San Francisco would be expecting a pass and David Montgomery would waltz into the end zone to cut the 49ers’ 34-24 lead to three points.
Instead, the veteran running back was stuffed for a two-yard loss and the Lions were forced to use their first timeout with 56 seconds left.
“Yeah, look the easy thing to do is to throw it,” Campbell said, via MLive.com. “Probably should’ve been the right thing, but for me, I wanted to run it. I thought we would just pop it.
“We had just (run the 2-minute offense) all the way down the field, throwing the football, and they were in a four-down front and I believed we’d walk right in. And we just missed a block. So then, yeah, I’ve got to use a timeout.”
That the Lions scored on the next play — Jared Goff hitting Jameson Williams for a touchdown — was ultimately irrelevant (unless you bet the Lions plus 6.5 points).
Dan Campbell regrets one decision from the Lions’ NFC Championship loss. Getty Images After the 49ers recovered the onside kick, they were able to run the clock out — with the Lions only able to stop the clock twice — and clinch a 34-31 victory and a spot in Super Bowl 2024 against the Chiefs.
It was not Campbell’s only questionable call from the afternoon, but he defended the other ones.
The third-year coach was also criticized for passing on two field goal opportunities.
The first was a fourth-and-2 from the 49ers’ 28-yard line with the Lions ahead 24-10 in the third quarter. Josh Reynolds dropped what should have been an easy conversion and the 49ers scored on the ensuing possession, thanks to Brandon Aiyuk’s miraculous catch.
David Montgomery gets stuffed by the 49ers in the first half. AP Then with the Lions trailing 27-24 in the fourth quarter, Campbell opted to go for it on a fourth-and-3 from the 49ers’ 30, and Goff’s desperation pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown fell incomplete.
The 49ers scored a touchdown on the next drive to essentially put the game out of reach.
“It’s easy hindsight. I get it. I get that, but I don’t regret those decisions, and it’s hard,” Campbell said after the game.
“It’s hard because we didn’t come through, and it wasn’t able to work out, but I don’t. And I understand the scrutiny I’ll get — that’s part of the gig, man — but it just didn’t work out.”
