ALLEN PARK, Mich. — After winning four of their past five games, the Detroit Lions sit on the fringes of the NFC playoff race. Of course, optimism likely would be much higher had they not blown an early-season game to the division-leading Minnesota Vikings.
The Lions held a 10-point lead entering the fourth quarter in that Week 3 matchup on the road, and even after giving up a touchdown midway through the frame, appeared poised to close it out after forcing the Vikings to turn it over on downs near midfield with a little more than two minutes remaining.
But facing a fourth-and-four at the Vikings' 36-yard line with 1:14 on the clock, Lions coach Dan Campbell had a difficult decision: Go for it, punt the ball and try to pin the Vikings deep without any timeouts, or attempt a 54-yard field goal — a career-long for then-kicker Austin Seibert — to extend the Lions lead to six.
