The Lions Win a Thriller Against Green Bay As Dan Campbell Continues To Show He's a Legitimate Psychopath With The Biggest Balls In The League

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Dan Campbell is an absolute lunatic, but respect to him he's consistent with that behavior. He will live and die while being a maniac. 4th and 1 or less on any part of the field he's going for it. That mentality is a big part of the reason his Lions are an NFL powerhouse now. That and having an incredible roster with two coordinators who almost certainly will be head coaches next year. 

In a tie game late in the 4th the Lions were in comfortable field goal range to take the lead over Green Bay. Faced with a 4th and inches and just 43 seconds left, I think 31/32 teams kick the 3. At the most they line up to go for it and hard count to try and get the free first down. None of those 31 are snapping the ball. The Lions operate differently. 

With how injured and exhausted that Lions defense was, Campbell didn't want to deal with a red hot Packers offense getting 40 seconds to find field goal range and force OT. I wonder if the NBC "go for it" analytics meter would have said to kick or not. It ALWAYS says go, but that might have broke the machine. The Lions decided to trust their o-line and run game to get those inches and lock it up right there. Ballsy. Psychotic. Successful. Goff actually trips and they still find a way to get it done. Devil magic shit. 

The first half was a period of football to forget for the Packers. They had virtually nothing going. Love was being swarmed with pressure and had no time to get the ball out. Their defense got bullied. It was all bad. In the second half the offense flipped the switch with Love being the catalyst. That dude made some elite throws in the 2nd half. It'll get forgotten in the loss, but this is as good as it gets. 

This one was a laser to start the 3rd quarter. 

Meanwhile, Josh Jacobs bulldozed people on the ground for three scores. My god does that man run hard. 

The Packers scored on 4 of their 5 drives in the 2nd half, including three touchdowns. I kinda see why Campbell didn't want to give the ball back. 

Green Bay's outside shot at the division is now cooked. A win tonight would have made things very interesting, especially for Minnesota. Even with the loss, the Packers should be fine for a playoff spot. The defense doesn't look great and needs to get healthy, but a lot would have to go wrong for them to miss the dance. We've had to watch some terrible football games this year. There are so many bad teams out there. It was nice to sit down on a Thursday night and witness a great game. I'd love to see these two go at it in January with everything on the line. 

P.S. Tucker Kraft is skyrocketing up my list of favorite athletes. What a specimen.