The Detroit Lions’ head coach Dan Campbell is shouldering the blame for his team’s surprising 20-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Campbell said that he was the one who cost his team the win.
“I asked for improvement from last week was the story, and we did improve. And their coach cost them — their head coach cost them this one,” Campbell said. “So, critical error to end the half, and 100 percent on me. We improved. There’s areas we’ve got to continue to improve on, but it’s not OK.”
The critical error Campbell is referring to happened towards the end of the second quarter. Being down 13-6, the Lions made their way to the Bucs’ nine-yard line as the clock was running out after quarterback Jarred Goff completed an eight-yard pass to wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Detroit was out of time outs, and considering St. Brown got tackled in the middle of the field, Goff hurried the offense to line up for a spike. However, before the offense could execute the spike, the field goal unit made its way on the pitch, prompting a 5-yard penalty for “Too Many Men on Field.”
At that point, a 10-second runoff was enforced, and the second quarter ended without the Lions having an opportunity to kick the field goal.
The three points the Lions didn’t get at the end of the half proved crucial late in the game. Being four points down instead of one, Detroit needed a touchdown on their last two drives. They advanced to Tampa’s 11-yard and 26-yard line on those occasions but went four and out both times.
