Dan Campbell is known for making incredibly aggressive fourth-down calls. They have endeared him to Detroit Lions players and fans alike, specifically because of how much trust he shows in his juggernaut Super Bowl-caliber team. People love that kind of moxie.
However, after an extremely early onside kick call against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Campbell might want to reconsider how he approaches these special teams’ sequences moving forward.
With the Lions getting ripped apart by likely NFL MVP Josh Allen, Campbell showed too much fear about trying to stop the superstar quarterback. In a futile fourth-quarter comeback attempt, Campbell followed a Lions touchdown by having them try an onside kick … with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Mind you, it was only a 10-point deficit at the time.
None of that is a typo. You read that right, dearest readers.
In effect, Campbell broke his own rule about trusting his team because he didn’t show much faith in the Lions stopping Allen and a scorching-hot Bills offense with almost an entire quarter to play. Campbell was appropriately rewarded for his overzealousness (and fear) with an easy return by Mack Hollins, who set up yet another Bills touchdown in a 48-42 Buffalo win.
Even Jim Nantz seemed perplexed by the call:
"Seems a little early, Tony, but OK — here we go."
– Jim Nantz as Lions fail to recover an onside kick with 12 minutes left pic.twitter.com/MVquIlSURQ
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) December 16, 2024
Given that onside kicks must always be announced and have an extremely low percentage of being recovered by the kicking team, Campbell had too much dip on the chip here. Yes, the Lions defense couldn’t do anything to Josh Allen. But an onside kick with 12 minutes left is basically giving a short field to an unstoppable Bills offense. It is tantamount to punting the game away if you don’t recover the ball. This was not a fourth-and-short play with the NFL’s premier offensive line.
It was literally calling for a lucky bounce of the ball.
Campbell had to know all of this, and he did it anyway. It’s pretty jarring to see him actually NOT trust this Lions team. Suffice it to say, that’s not the Campbell we’re used to seeing.
