The lions are different this time because this is the same old Dan Campbell.

Campbell’s anger might be dangerous, but it’s helped his Lions find their true identity.

The “take the points” crowd, which includes coaches who choose to kick short field goals or punt in order to play for field position, somehow managed to link themselves with the “real,” tough, old-school football crowd. Most of the time, people think of the coaches who make the smart, analytical choices as riverboat players on a hot run, not as second-year Deloitte analysts making PowerPoints. This is just good branding.

Of course, there’s also Dan Campbell.

The Lions’ head coach is actually rude. It’s the only team in the NFL that has tried more fourth-down conversions since Campbell took over in 2021. Campbell didn’t act out at all when he chose to go for five different fourth-down tries in Thursday’s 34–31 win over the Packers. The Lions were successful on four of those chances, including a fourth-and-1 from the Green Bay 21-yard line with 43 seconds left in a game that was tied. Thanks to the extra point, the Lions were able to run out of time and stop Jordan Love and his team from getting the ball back after Jake Bates’ game-winning field goal.

Is there another coach in the league who would have made that last choice on fourth down? History tells us no.With the score tied in the last minute of regulation, the Lions are the first team since at least 2000 to go for a fourth down from inside their opponent’s 30-yard line. On this one occasion, you could find several statistical models that would have supported taking the points and making the field goal. The Amazon announcers were shocked when the Lions’ offense set up and then snapped the ball.

Kirk Herbstreit said, “The man has to kick this field goal.”

Not at all.

He said after the game, “I just felt like we needed to end it on offense.” “I didn’t want to hand that ball back.”

“Everything in me said, ‘Let’s finish this,'”

They’ve won 11 straight games and are now 12-1. There is one month left in the regular season, but they already have the best record in the NFL and are on track for the best season in the team’s history. Campbell has worked toward this goal for four seasons, turning around decades of bad luck to make his team a Super Bowl threat. Some of Campbell’s chances on that trip up have been easy to see as tries to punch above his weight or risks that were easier to take when his team didn’t have anything to lose.

But this is no longer a scrappy new team. It’s easy for the Lions to get to the top of the NFC standings. The NFC North might be the best division in the NFL, and they are 4-0 in it. Now that a boss or team has reached the top of the mountain, they often get tighter. To play not to lose but to win. But it’s clear that’s not the case as the Lions try to stay ahead of other NFC contenders and get ready for the playoffs as the season comes to a close.

Yes, we have one too.

These Lions are not the same ones. But the same Dan Campbell coaches both of them.

Detroit shouldn’t let up on the gas, which is a good thing. Even though the Lions have been almost perfect this season, they still don’t have much room for error as they try to get the top place and a bye in the first round.

At least in the second half of Thursday’s game, the Packers looked like they could beat Detroit, especially since the Lions’ defense was so beat up. For that reason alone, Campbell didn’t want to give Love another chance with the ball at the end of the game, not even for a short time. At this point, though, the Packers’ 9-4 record overall and 1-3 record in the division make it clear that they are in the wild card spot. With a record of 10-2, the Vikings still have a small chance of catching Detroit and beating them for the division title and maybe even the top place.

More importantly, Detroit needed to win Thursday to keep Philadelphia, the second-hottest team in the conference, at bay. Philadelphia is only one game behind Detroit with a 10-2 record. One loss in the last month of the season won’t hurt the Lions’ chances of getting the top seed, even if the Birds win all of their games. But Detroit probably shouldn’t lose two games.The Eagles’ final strength of schedule is the 11th easiest in the NFL. Detroit’s, on the other hand, starts next Sunday at home against the Bills and ends with the Chiefs.One thing the Lions are playing for besides a first-round bye is to keep Jared Goff from having to play outside in Philadelphia in late January.

These are the kinds of things that can make teachers tense up. They just want to make it to the end of the year. That doesn’t seem to be in Campbell’s genes. He has never really changed his “aggressive” way of teaching, no matter what kind of team he is in charge of. The Lions have been much better than average this year on fourth downs. They’ve tried 22 and made 15 of them. In terms of tries, they are tied for sixth, fourth, and eighth, respectively.

However, the Lions’ success rate on fourth-down tries has been pretty average since 2021. Detroit has tried the most fourth-down conversions over the last four years, so they have the most, but their 55% success rate is the 13th best in the league during that time. A lot of these plays haven’t worked out as Campbell has led the Lions to the top. He still called for them more often than any other boss, though.

Compare this to the Chiefs, who are the only other team in the NFL with one loss. Since 2021, Kansas City has the best number of conversions on fourth down in football. TruMedia says that in that time, the Chiefs have only gone for them 58 times, while Detroit has done so 140 times. Is the fact that the Chiefs are less afraid of taking risks and pickier about which fourth downs to try part of the reason why they are 10 percentage points more likely to win than Detroit? Yes. (Some of it is also Patrick Mahomes, you know.)

What about the other team? Between Detroit and Kansas City, which one has made the most of fourth downs over the last four years? Which team’s fans seem to be the happy with the way their coaches handle those high-stakes plays? What I get from Lions fans is that they know Campbell’s decisions have led to wins, while Chiefs fans may complain about how conservative Andy Reid is.

The Lions’ rise from the bottom of the NFL to the top has become a feel-good story. Campbell, who wears his heart on his shirt and makes brave choices, has led them the whole way. They still have to finish the season, beat the Eagles, and see how they do in the playoffs. This won’t be easy, given how bad their defense is right now, how much they still have to play, and the fact that there are still worries about their quarterback in the middle of winter. But Thursday night did feel like the best time for this Lions team. They’re the first team in club history to start 12-1, and it’s important that they’ve done it by acting like themselves. That means going for fourth downs and taking risks. In the end, they won and Campbell gave a loud speech after the game in which he stopped in the middle to praise a blocker for throwing up.

This exchange in Dan Campbell’s postgame locker room speech is priceless.

“There you go, Skip. Keep throwing up… or whatever you’re doing over there.” pic.twitter.com/JvgUzXkEdu

— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) December 6, 2024

These Lions are not the same ones. But the same Dan Campbell coaches both of them.End of the text

What Nora Princiotti

Nora Princiotti writes about pop music, the NFL, and society, sometimes all at the same time. She is the author of the show “Every Single Album,” a guest on “The Ringer NFL Show,” and The Ringer’s official Taylor Swift expert.