Until now, football fans continue to discuss the past weekend's conference championship games. From the Baltimore Ravens' stunning loss to the San Francisco 49ers' comeback, most of those tuned in still bear fresh memories from an eventful Sunday. Some memories aren't too sweet, however, such as those of the Detroit Lions faithful.

One particular memory that Lions fans would prefer to move on from was Dan Campbell's fourth-down decisions. Following the loss to the 49ers, Campbell was bombarded by criticisms surrounding his refusal to kick field goals during two second-half fourth-downs (one in the third quarter and one in the fourth). As both possessions ended in incompletions, fans attributed these as big reasons why San Francisco was able to take the win.

Greg Olsen defends Dan Campbell with statistics

Still, despite the backlash, some have chosen to defend Campbell's decisions, one of whom includes analyst Greg Olsen. The former NFL tight end turned sportscaster clapped back at the critics, pointing out how the numbers were in favor of Campbell's choice in the fourth quarter.

“The biggest criticism used against ‘analytics' is that it doesn’t take into account the team or situation,” Olsen posted on X (Twitter). “Michael Badgley career 48+ (yards) = 45%. Why doesn’t the ‘take the points crowd' include these pieces of info? Early in the game SF elected to attempt a FG on 4th down. Moody missed.”

During the fourth quarter, San Francisco was already up by three points when Campbell opted to risk a fourth-down pass for the second time. Detroit was fourth-and-3 from the San Francisco 30. Instead of going for a 48-yard kick with Badgley, the Lions tried converting. As mentioned, it was incomplete.

Olsen pointing out Badgley's 45% field goal percentage on 48+ yard kicks may be raised as an argument in defense of the veteran coach. Regardless, the Lions losing by only three points would still make it difficult to make a lot of fans see the rationality in Campbell's risk.

Regardless, what's done is done. At the moment, the best Detroit can do is regroup and prepare for the 2024 season.

 

Â