It seems Dan Campbell isn’t always a football madman. Sometimes, he likes to play the conservative percentages to the detriment of his team.
Campbell’s Detroit Lions were giving the Kansas City Chiefs all they could handle on Thursday night. And late in the third quarter, we had this NFL opening matchup all knotted up at 14-14, with the Lions sitting happily in Chiefs’ territory on a fourth and short.
Did Detroit elect to use its dominant offensive line to try and continue the possession? Did the Lions take a chance to step on the Chiefs’ throat when they could?
No, no, they did not. Campbell decided to punt and give the Chiefs the ball back. Kansas City would later tack on a field goal to make it 17-14, frankly sparing Campbell from making his decision look even worse. Why? His punt from that position, in that situation, is literally one of the most cowardly NFL punts — according to the Surrender Index — in roughly a quarter-century.
DET decided to punt to KC from the KC 40 on 4th & 3 with 5:56 remaining in the 3rd while tied 14 to 14.
With a Surrender Index of 29.83, this punt ranks at the 100th percentile of cowardly punts of the 2023 season, and the 98th percentile of all punts since 1999.
— Surrender Index (@surrender_index) September 8, 2023
The eye test matches up. You don’t beat the Chiefs by punting when you have the potential leg up. You punch them in the mouth when you can. You don’t bring a knife to a Mahomes (gun) fight. It’s a wonder it didn’t immediately go worse for Detroit.