Detroit Lions 2023

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

My friend posted this:

This is the time we show who is a true Lions fan and who is just a bandwagon fan and grateful to know the diff

I responded:

Lions fans: it’s okay to be pissed off.

We should have an empathetic attitude to those who have been repeatedly screwed over when we have heard “this is the year” for years. You can’t be upset with Lions fans who are 30 game minutes away from a Super Bowl(which has NEVER happened before) and they lead by 17 points. The team blows the lead by the highest of any championship game margin. We have a right to be mad. Let us be mad online rather than taking it out on someone or something.

We all know Ben Johnson is gone so we may have lost our window.

I want to stress again. It wasn’t that the Lions lost, it is HOW they lost that gets me upset.

[matt1]

Danny Campbell is a loser!! Kick the field goals on 4th Down next time!!!

[matt1]

Were they're any flipped cars or fights after the loss?????

[MWmetalhead]

I can almost understand the first snap on 4th down as the Lions still led comfortably at that point and were deep in Niners territory. The thinking was probably this: "If we don't convert, our defense will pull through."

The second one after trailing by 3? A terrible decision of epic proportions.

That said, sloppiness and the Niners ability to capitalize is what cost this team the most. To allow the Niners to score 27 unanswered points in such a short span is ridiculous.

[Matt]

This is the dumbest motherfucker on the Lions: https://twitter.com/TSV__1/status/17517 ... GChwQ&s=19

He's also the one who took the stupid blindside block penalty on the INT return.

[MWmetalhead]

Gardner-Johnson needs to be sent packing. He is a UFA this off-season.

[craig11152]

SOL is back from vacation.

• Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

• 20 people with 20 different reasons why they lost

• shell shocked fans wondering what the hell happened

• coaches making questionable decisions that impact the outcome

SOL to me was never just about losing seasons. It is about the ways they find to lose that make fans slap their collective heads.
Blowing a 17 point lead with 30 minutes to the Super Bowl is an SOL thing to do. It's just that the bar has gotten higher.

[Bobbert]

SOL is back from vacation.

• Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

• 20 people with 20 different reasons why they lost

• shell shocked fans wondering what the hell happened

• coaches making questionable decisions that impact the outcome

SOL to me was never just about losing seasons. It is about the ways they find to lose that make fans slap their collective heads.
Blowing a 17 point lead with 30 minutes to the Super Bowl is an SOL thing to do. It's just that the bar has gotten higher.

I miss Jim Brandstatter saying, "I'm speaking here from the subdued Lions locker room."

[Mega Hertz]

I'm not seeing SOL. I'm seeing SOF. Same old fans. JFC. I've heard calls on 97.1, people wanting Sheila's head, Campbell's job, my God. This wasn't blowing a lead to Chicago to go 1-6 on the season. Yes, mistakes were made. But we just played the NFC title game. Let's also not forget, it was against the NUMBER. ONE. SEED. In the conference.

Now, if the Lions go 6-11 next year, or need 7 teams to lose to get the final seed and get blown out on the road, fine. We'll talk.

Unreal.

[Honeyman]

Campbell didn't drop the pass on fourth down right in his hands. Campbell didn't fumble on his own 25. Campbell didn't have a ball somehow bounce off his face mask directly to a Niner. I didn't like the coaching calls, especially eschewing the 2nd fg, but that's what Campbell. The players let him down. This one will take a while to get over.

[MWmetalhead]

I do agree that Reynolds, Vildor and Gibbs deserve more of the blame for the game's outcome than Campbell.

[MWmetalhead]

BMW touched on this already, but here's what the NY Post had to say about Campbell's clock management and decision making in desperation time:

Desperate to extend the game, Campbell could have — should have — done one of two things as his team drove down the field down 10 with under two minutes to go. He could have gone for a field goal when there were still about 80 seconds left, still armed with all his timeouts. He didn’t. On third-and-goal, he chose a running play, meaning he had to burn a timeout. The Lions scored but couldn’t execute the onside kick.

And that was that.

[Honeyman]

BMW touched on this already, but here's what the NY Post had to say about Campbell's clock management and decision making in desperation time:

Desperate to extend the game, Campbell could have — should have — done one of two things as his team drove down the field down 10 with under two minutes to go. He could have gone for a field goal when there were still about 80 seconds left, still armed with all his timeouts. He didn’t. On third-and-goal, he chose a running play, meaning he had to burn a timeout. The Lions scored but couldn’t execute the onside kick.

And that was that.

The running play was a ridiculous call. Onside kicks virtually never are successful in today's NFL.

[Mike]

I get it, and I don't have a problem with them going for 4th downs frequently. But situation matters. And Campbell seems to lack situational awareness at times with regards to 3 points being very beneficial relative to the risk of not converting on 4th down. And tonight's 3rd quarter decision was one of those times. Being up 17 was as good as being up 21 at that point in the game, but being up only 14 and giving SF the ball with good field position was too risky. Not to mention, it puts you right back to where you were at halftime, except now half of the 3rd quarter is gone too.

It was the wrong decision. But he hasn't trusted his kicker in 2 years. He wasn't gonna change now.

I would like to point out that the first half more-or-less ended with another such decision - albeit with close to the goal line rather than a 4th down. He did choose to kick that one. But if he'd tried for the TD instead? If he'd tried for it and gotten it and then they're up 21 instead of 17? You're not going to see many pointing that one out too (perhaps rightfully so, given the second half). But if we want to examine all the different x-factors in this game, that's another one.

[TC Talks]

As a non-Lions fan living in Michigan, I am happy for all the success your team had this season. I watched the game on a plane heading to Detroit. It was like being in a sports bar. I am reminded of this quote from Billy Beane, long time GM of the Oakland A's.

“If we don’t win the last game of the series, they’ll dismiss us. I know these guys, I know the way they think, and they will erase us.” – Billy Beane

Be supportive of what your team accomplished. The coach you are roasting is the same guy who created the opportunity.