Dan Campbell's fourth down aggressiveness comes back to haunt Lions

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is one of the most aggressive coaches in the NFL when it comes to going for fourth downs. That aggressiveness has played a big role in the Lions' rise to Super Bowl contender. 

But that aggressiveness was also a major storyline in the Lions' 34-31 NFC Championship loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday evening.

Campbell and the Lions passed on two opportunities for field goals in the second half, resulting in fourth down attempts that failed and helped turn the game in San Francisco's favor.

Those decisions will not only drive the discussion around this game for the next few days, they will be infamous "what if" discussions in Lions history. 

The first came late in the third quarter when the Lions, holding a 24-10 lead, were facing a fourth-and-2 at the San Francisco 28-yard line. Instead of attempting a 45-yard field goal to potentially take a three-score lead, the Lions opted to go for it. 

They drew up a perfect play that resulted in Josh Reynolds getting wide open only to have him drop the ball. 

Thanks to a couple of big plays and a Lions fumble, the game was tied within the next five minutes of clock time. 

After the 49ers took the lead in the fourth quarter, the Lions again found themselves in a fourth-and-three at the San Francisco 30-yard line with seven minutes to play. 

Instead of attempting a potential game-tying 47-yard field goal Campbell again went for it and watched as Jared Goff's pass fell incomplete. The 49ers marched down the field and scored a touchdown to increase their lead to 10 points. 

Campbell said after the game he did not regret the decisions because he was trying to go for the win, and he understands the scrutiny he is about to get. 

On one hand, there were a lot of factors that went into the results that go far beyond Campbell's decisions. 

If Reynolds catches the first fourth down pass, the whole game might be different. If the Lions do not turn a potential interception into an improbable Brandon Aiyuk catch, they might still win the game. 

There is also the reality that Lions might not have had full trust in kicker Michael Badgley and that neither kick was automatic. You can't assume he makes either kick. 

They are all fair points.

But dropped passes and the other team making plays are the types of variables that go into those fourth down decisions. And even if Badgley only makes just one of those two kicks the Lions might have still been playing for a tie on their final offensive drive. 

You also can't assume that even if the Lions convert either fourth down that they automatically score touchdowns. They could still stall out, turn the ball over, or have to settle for a field goal anyway. 

They are all hypotheticals. But the bottom line is Campbell passed on the opportunity for six points and ended up with zero in a game his team lost by three points. 

The argument in defense of Campbell's aggressiveness is going to be that is how he coached all season and that it was a big part in the Lions' success, and that by going for it on fourth down consistently it tends to balance out for teams even if you fail on some. The reward can be worth the risk. 

But the playoffs are an entirely different animal than the regular season. In the regular season you can get by on percentages and wait for things to balance out over the course of a 17-game schedule. 

If one decision backfires and costs you a game, you might have six or seven more games to make up for it. You might have the next game to have the percentages balance out in your favor. 

You have no such luxury in the playoffs. If you fail, that's it. The Lions found that on Sunday.