Heartbreak and Heroes

Here are just a few random Championship Game thoughts as I hit the stretch run for finishing WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL. I hope you saw that the signed and personalized preorder campaign is now live!

On Friday, I wrote a little bit about how the Detroit Lions have a hard history but not necessarily a heartbreaking one because they have so rarely been close to glory over the last 50 or 60 years. Well… Sunday was pure and utter heartbreak. Up 24-7 at the half? Crazy 49ers catch that should have been an interception? Questionable coaching decisions down the stretch? Fumble at the worst possible time? Oh yeah, it was a royal flush of heartbreaks, and I could not feel worse for Lions fans. At the end, I saw a young woman bawling her eyes out, and I thought: “C’est moi.” Well, I don’t speak French, but you get the idea, I hope.

While I don’t want to pile on here, we should talk about the three coaching decisions that Dan Campbell made in the second half that sting.

Decision 1: 7:05 left in the third quarter, fourth and 2 at 49ers 28, Lions up by 14.

Campbell decided to go for it here. On the one hand, I respect that this is Detroit Lions football; this is exactly the sort of aggressiveness and borderline recklessness that has brought the Lions back from the abyss. I love that attitude. The trouble here is,