Kirk Herbstreit was left stunned by the Detroit Lions’ daring play call that led to a thrilling victory on Thursday night.
The Lions edged out division rivals, the Green Bay Packers, with a 34-31 win in a classic NFC North showdown.
As time expired, the Lions kicked the game-winning field goal, with Jake Bates nailing a 35-yard attempt to seal the 34-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers, leaving them no time for a comeback.
With about 40 seconds left, Campbell had the option to kick a field goal on 4th-and-1. Instead, he chose to take a risk and attempt to convert, hoping to run down the clock further.
Had the Packers stopped the Lions, they would have taken over possession with the score tied at 31-31.
“Dan Campbell is dying to go for it,” Herbstreit remarked during the broadcast. “But of course, he has to kick this field goal to potentially win, or at least go ahead by three.”
Herbstreit misjudged the situation, as Campbell stuck to his plan. Jared Goff handed off to David Montgomery, who converted the fourth down, setting up Bates’ game-winning kick.
Campbell explained the decision: “I felt like we needed to end it on offense. I didn’t want to give the ball back, and I believed we could convert. I trust the O-line. I trust David.”
The Lions succeeded on four of their five fourth-down attempts during the game, improving to an impressive 12-1 record—the best in the NFL.
Goff threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Tim Patrick.
“We talked about being aggressive this week,” Goff said on Amazon’s postgame show. “Dan made it clear that we were putting this on the offense. We were going to be aggressive, and if there was an opportunity to go for it on fourth down, we were going to take it.”