3 Lions to blame for their NFC Championship game meltdown
Detroit blew the largest halftime lead in NFC Championship history. Here's how it happened.
1. HC Dan Campbell
Campbell's decision to leave his kicker – and ultimately, six points – on the sideline, in a game they lost by three, obviously looks bad. Campbell's been notoriously aggressive on 4th down all year, but it's even harder to ignore the optics of this Lions' loss because of how large the stage that it happened on is. Running the ball, and having to waste a timeout with less than a minute left, was another decision that is arguably worse than anything he did on 4th down. While he was plenty accountable in his postgame press conference, he defended his decision-making, and maybe rightfully so. Hindsight is 20/20, and the players are the ones executing the plays, but Campbell had a rough day on Sunday.