Dan Campbell has made a living in NFL coaching going for it on fourth down, but his decision to try and convert a fourth-and-1 from his own 24-yard line, in a tie game with 4:53 on the clock, stunned even some of his most prominent players Sunday.
“I was surprised,” running back Jahmyr Gibbs said. “But when I thought about it, I was like, ‘You know what? [Expletive] it.’”
The Detroit Lions nearly [expletived] themselves out of their first NFC North win of 2026 when the Green Bay Packers stopped Gibbs for a 2-yard loss.
But the Lions’ much-maligned defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, DJ Wonnum blocked Trey Smack’s 35-yard field goal try, and Gibbs and Jared Goff
led the Lions on a 10-play drive that Jake Bates ended with a 22-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Packers, 20-17, at Ford Field on Sunday, Oct. 25.
Campbell, one of the most aggressive coaches in the NFL, said the logic behind his late-game gamble was simple.
“Well, I thought we would get it, No. 1,” he said. “I really believed we would get that. No. 2, I knew we’d get the ball back if it didn’t work out. And those were the two thoughts.”
The Lions and Packers traded blows for most of the first 55 minutes in a wild game that saw the teams turn the ball over three times and combine for just three touchdowns on nine red-zone possessions.
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After the Packers tied the game at 17 on Smack’s 43-yard field goal with 7:10 to play, Gibbs broke a 9-yard run on the first play of the Lions’ ensuing possession, then failed to pick up a yard on two straight plays, setting up Campbell’s roll of the dice.
On fourth-and-1, Gibbs took a handoff from Goff and ran to his left but was tackled from behind by Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon before he reached the line of scrimmage.
“We could have got that,” Gibbs said. “We just had, I think it was probably like a miss-ID or something, something probably happened. Stuff that’s fixable, so you just got to go back and look at the tape. Easy to clean up. We’re capable of it, so I think we should be able to do it.”
The Packers started their final possession at the Lions’ 22-yard line, but ran less than two minutes off the clock and failed to pick up a first down.
Running back Josh Jacobs was stopped for no gain on first down. Jordan Love threw a short pass to Jacobs for a 5-yard gain on second down. And then Love barely overshot Jacobs – with the ball tipping off his hands – in the end zone on third down.
“Our biggest thing was, on the fourth-down stop that Green Bay got was, it was not like an, ‘Oh, man, they should have kicked,’” linebacker Derrick Barnes said. “It was none of that. It was, ‘OK, now we got an opportunity to go help our team win the game.’ Doing the one-of-11, everybody going 110%. I think that we did just that, and then like I said, when you do your job, good things happen.”
Wonnum pushed through the left side of the defensive line to get his hand on Smack’s field goal, and the Lions started their final possession at their own 25 with 3:21 left, needing just a field goal to win the game.
Gibbs carried seven times for 39 yards on the drive, and Goff completed an 18-yard pass to Sam LaPorta and took a roughing the passer penalty on the play.
“Our defense, we talk all the time about putting fires out,” Campbell said. “Our defense put the fire out. And they’re already in field goal range and then Wonnum comes up with that huge play, man, huge block, and so at the end of the day, it really cost us nothing. And that’s because our defense did what they needed to do.”
The Lions improved to 4-2 with the win and leapfrogged the Packers (4-3) for third place in the competitive NFC North.
The Minnesota Vikings, off on Sunday, lead the division – as the NFL’s last remaining unbeaten team, at 6-0 – and the Chicago Bears are second at 5-2.
The Lions host the Vikings at Ford Field on Sunday, Nov. 1 (1 p.m., Fox).
Goff finished 22-for-32 for 303 yards with two touchdowns, both to Jameson Williams, Gibbs had 116 yards rushing on 29 carries, and Amon-Ra St. Brown had nine catches for 153 yards as the Lions overcame two fumbles – one by Gibbs at the Packers’ 8-yard line just before halftime – and another turnover on downs in the red zone for the win.
Campbell touted his defense’s resilience Sunday and said he sees “a trust that's building with some of these guys” after a rough start to the season. The Lions, who entered the week last in the NFL in total defense and 30th in points allowed, held Green Bay to 60 yards rushing and allowed one play longer than 10 yards in the second half.
“It wasn’t perfect, but, man, that’s what it’s about,” Campbell said. “Defense had done enough to where now it’s time for offense to finish this game out. It’s not fair to ask them to go back out there again after the way they’ve been playing their tails off, and our offense stepped up in a big way to finish the game.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dan Campbell dismisses Lions' 4th-down gamble: 'Cost us nothing'
