NFL: Detroit Lions at Baltimore Ravens
USATSI

Late in the third quarter of a game in which they were heavily favored, the Detroit Lions were trailing 23-14 against the division rival Green Bay Packers, and facing fourth down and five yards to go on their own 23-yard line. As he is occasionally wont to do, Lions coach Dan Campbell called for a little trickeration.

Rather than punting it away, the Lions went for a fake, with the long-snapper directing the ball to the personal protector in hopes of being able to run for a first down and keep the drive alive for an offense that had generally struggled throughout the afternoon. Alas, that is not what happened on the play.

Three snaps after the failed fake, Packers quarterback Jordan Love found Christian Watson in the end zone for a touchdown, extending Green Bay's lead to two scores. The Lions would pull within a touchdown on their final offensive possession of the game, but ultimately fall short after failing to recover an onside kick attempt.

Following the game, Lions coach Dan Campbell took the blame for the fake. "Yeah, look, that's a bad call on me," Campbell said, per The Detroit Free Press. "That's a bad call. I shouldn't have done that to those guys. That's a bad call."

Campbell was pressed on whether the punt team had the correct look to run the play or whether they should have audibled into a punt, but he again said that it was just a bad call, and the blame goes on him. Quarterback Jared Goff, though, defended the effort. 

"We trust the hell out of [Campbell]," Goff said. "He makes those calls, most of the time he's right. When he's not, we've got to pick him up and make the plays to help us win the game. But yeah, we trust the hell out of him and love when he puts us in situations to make him right."

The Lions have gone for it on fourth down more often than any other team in the NFL this season, and they've been fairly successful in those attempts. They went 0-4 on fourth down against Green Bay, though, and the fake punt proved fairly costly. Still, the Lions know that they are generally going to come out ahead on these types of decisions in the long run, and based on Campbell's track record, we should expect him to continue being aggressive.