Photograph: David J Phillip/AP
In the end, Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions lost the only way they know how: playing aggressively.
Detroit held a 24-7 lead over the San Francisco 49ers at half-time of the NFC Championship Game on Sunday. In less than a quarter, that lead had vanished. Even by the Lions’ standards, this was a special kind of Lion-ing.
How does a 17-point lead evaporate in eight minutes? Miscues, bad luck and ladybugs.
When the inexplicable starts to happen, there’s only so much an NFL head coach can do. You can’t legislate for Josh Reynolds, the team’s reliable receiver, dropping a crucial fourth-down conversion to open a half. Or Jahmyr Gibbs, the team’s star running back, going the wrong way on a hand-off, steaming head-first into a pile of bodies and coughing up a fumble on his own 25-yard line. Or your special teams unit misplaying a perfectly placed punt, knocking the ball into the endzone for a touchback rather than pinning San Francisco at their own goalline.
Related: 49ers break Lions’ hearts after thrilling comeback in NFC Championship Game
Most of all, you cannot legislate for 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy launching a ball toward the sporting gods, and being rewarded with the ball bouncing off an opponents’s facemask and into the hands of Brandon Aiyuk for a 51-yard completion.
“Before the game, a ladybug landed on my shoe. And you all know what that means,” Aiyuk said after the game, which the Niners won 34-31, while trying to explain his catch. “That’s all I can say. Other than that, I don’t know.”
Aiyuk’s third-quarter grab was the pivot point of the NFC title game. Up until then, the Lions had played a near-perfect game. Brock Purdy was scattershot, throwing the ball into crowded corridors with hope rather than precision. The Niners defense could not slow anything the Lions threw at them.
Then the catch happened. Then Reynolds dropped another catch on third-down. Then the Lions whiffed on a crucial sack. Before…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/miscues-bad-luck-ladybugs-lions-081028258.html
Author : The Guardian
Publish date : 2024-01-29 08:10:28
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