Why did Bucs go for two against Lions?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to go for two points after scoring a touchdown to cut the Detroit Lions' lead to eight points instead of kicking the traditional point after touchdown attempt and naturally, many people were questioning why Todd Bowles made the call.

It's unorthodox when looking at the game of football from its beginning. Two-point conversions, even in today's game, are much harder to pull off than PATs. So, naturally, wouldn't coaches and teams want the natural path of least resistance when attempting a comeback?

For sure. That's a great baseline to operate from, but context is always important and in the context of the Bucs and Lions - there was no way the Bucs were going to beat the Lions in overtime while watching the game unfold. 

It was a smart decision by Todd Bowles. If you convert the two-pointer, then you're down by five points and a touchdown automatically wins the game. You don't even have to worry about kicking the PAT to win the game, which is a relief in its own right. It gave the Bucs the best chance at beating the Lions.

If the Bucs don't make it, they're still down one possession and they're fighting to tie the game. They'd be in the same spot in regard to tying the game by kicking two PATs - but it's obviously harder trying to tie a game by going for two.

Still, the math works, ultimately, and as you can see via the chart below, the probabilities make sense: