Feeling the pain, Dan Campbell said he didn't regret it. Jared Goff would say that he loved it, that Campbell "believes in us." David Montgomery would call him "the best coach in the league." In the biggest game of the season, the Lions fell a couple drives and a couple plays short of the Super Bowl, and a couple fourth downs will gain most of the attention.
The first came midway through the third quarter. With the Lions leading 24-10, Campbell left his offense on the field on fourth and 2 from San Francisco's 28; a 46-yard field goal would have made it a three-score game. Instead, Goff failed to connect with Josh Reynolds on a pass that Reynolds will tell you he should have caught. The play was there. The Lions just didn't make it.
"We didn't connect," said Goff. "I'll throw a better ball next time."
The second came midway through the fourth, after the 49ers had taken a 27-24 lead. Facing fourth and 3 from San Francisco's 30, when a 48-yard field goal would have tied the game, Campbell again trusted in his offense. Goff was flushed out of the pocket and threw incomplete to Amon-Ra St. Brown. When the 49ers scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive with three minutes to go, the game was effectively over.
"I just felt really good about us converting, getting our momentum and not letting them play long ball," Campbell said. "They were bleeding the clock out, that’s what they do, and I wanted to get the upper hand back."
Campbell said "it's easy in hindsight" to question the decisions, and he gets it.
"But I don't regret those decisions," he said. "It’s hard, because we didn't come through and it wasn't able to work out. But I just I don't. I don't. And I understand the scrutiny, I get it. That’s part of the gig. It just didn’t work out."
Campbell had good reason to believe in his offense. The Lions had gone 17-for-20 on fourth and 3 or less in opponent territory this season, per CBS Sports. They just came up short on the two biggest downs of the year.
"Every call that he makes, you can trust and get behind him," Montgomery said. "Every call that he’s made is the right call."
"Love it," said Goff. "Keep us out there. Wish we could have converted. Yeah, he believes in us. I don't know what the numbers are, but we had a lot of big-time conversions this year that changed games. It can change a game if you convert them, and we didn't. And it's part of the reason why we lost."
Not the whole reason, or the only reason. The Lions defense surrendered points on all five of the 49ers' second-half drives (excluding when they were running out the clock), which is part of the reason Campbell felt compelled to leave his offense on the field. And the offense had numerous second-half gaffes, including a third-down drop by Reynolds on a perfectly thrown pass and a fumble by Jahmyr Gibbs that led to the 49ers' game-tying touchdown.
"You don’t know which play is going to make the difference, which one. You say that every game, but when you get in there with a heavyweight like San Fran, man, it is the difference. And sometimes you can only say so much, you gotta live it, unfortunately. You gotta get your heart ripped out, which we did," said Campbell. "And it's a lesson learned."
Had the Lions converted the first fourth-down attempt, there's a good chance they go onto win. But a pass from Goff to Reynolds slipped through Reynolds' grasp as he went down to catch it, and the 49ers had the break they needed. Then Gibbs gave them another. The Lions cracked opened the door, and the best team in the NFC knocked it down.
Instead of playing two weeks from now in Vegas, Campbell and the Lions will be watching the Super Bowl from home.
"It's hard when you lose that way," said Campbell. "You feel like you get your heart ripped out. But I'm proud of that group and I'll go anywhere with that group. You wish you could keep it all together, but that's not the reality. We did some really good things, but today, we didn't do enough. It's tough.