5 Detroit Lions thoughts: The Dan Campbell advantage, NFL playoffs oddity brewing

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Five thoughts on the Detroit Lions after Sunday's thrilling 41-38 win over the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium:

Decisive advantage

It's hard to overstate what coach Dan Campbell's aggressive approach means to the Lions, the confidence he has instilled in players with his willingness to go for it on fourth down at almost anytime on just about any part of the field.

"With our guy, I kind of lean towards we’re going until he tells us we’re not," quarterback Jared Goff said Sunday. "And that’s not just in that situation (at the end of the Chargers game), that’s kind of in every fourth down that we get."

Campbell's boldest decision Sunday was the choice to pass up a go-ahead 44-yard field goal attempt with 1:44 to play to try and convert a fourth-and-2. The Lions did, on a Goff pass to Sam LaPorta, and were able to run out the rest of the clock, sending Riley Patterson on to kick the winning field goal as time expired, rather than give Justin Herbert and the Chargers a chance to tie or steal the game.

That was the right call, of course, given the way Herbert had diced up the Lions' defense in the second half, but that doesn't make it an easy one — and it wasn't the only big fourth down the Lions went for Sunday.

The Lions converted four of five fourth down tries against the Chargers, and now have three games this year with more fourth down attempts than punts (and two more with the same amount). That's an incredible stat when you think about the conservative nature of the NFL, and it has given the Lions a decisive advantage over opponents.

Beyond the confidence Campbell has instilled in players with his decision making, his aggressive approach has opened up the playbook for offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, one of the most brilliant play callers in the NFL.

On a third-and-10 from the Chargers' 33-yard line late in Sunday's third quarter, Johnson called a quick pass to Kalif Raymond that went for 5 yards. Johnson knew he had two plays to get the first down, so while plenty of teams would throw to the sticks in that situation and settle for a long field goal (albeit with a more reliable kicker from distance than the one the Lions have on their roster), the Lions were content to try to get the 10 yards in two chunks.

On fourth-and-5, an obvious passing situation, David Montgomery ran up the middle for 6 yards.

The Lions ultimately failed on that drive when they were stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1, but more often than not, those decisions have yielded touchdowns, four-point swings.

"Dan and Ben, ballsy, ballsy play callers," Montgomery said. "You got to have some appreciation for that."

Award favorite

Campbell is the NFL Coach of the Year favorite in a season where there are plenty of worthwile candidates for the award.

What DeMeco Ryans has done with the Houston Texans is masterful. To have that team, with a future star of a rookie quarterback, in the playoff hunt one year after going 3-13-1 would be enough to win the award most years. Mike Tomlin does more with less than any coach in the NFL. And Nick Sirianni, Andy Reid and Kevin O'Connell deserve mention, too.

But no coach has had as direct an impact on winning games as Campbell this season. I believe his fourth-and-2 decision late in Sunday's game was the difference between the Lions winning and losing. The fake punt from his own 17-yard line in Week 1 against the Kansas City Chiefs remains the call of the season (remember, it led to the Lions' first touchdown in what turned out to be a 21-20 win).

I don't know if Campbell will become the first Lions coach to win the award since Wayne Fontes in 1991 (and the third Lions coach ever, along with George Wilson in 1957). But I do believe his decision making will provide a template for future NFL coaches to follow, and you can bet when his coaching tree springs its own branches — Johnson, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, maybe linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard down the road — his disciples will take a similarly aggressive approach.

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Pass patch

Now for the bad from Sunday: the defense.

To be fair, it wasn't all bad. The Lions held the Chargers to two first downs on their first four possessions and did a fair job stopping the run (3.5 yards per carry) all day.

But they gave up 38 points for the second time in three games and had no answer for arguably the best quarterback-receiver duo (Herbart and Keenan Allen) on their schedule.

To go where they are capable of going in January, the Lions need to patch up a pass defense ranked 20th in the league at 231.6 yards per game. The secondary can be too undisciplined at times and the pass rush is too often a one-man show. The Lions will need better from both groups to beat the Philadelphia Eagles or San Francisco 49ers in the postseason.

We're past the trade deadline, so whatever solutions the Lions can find for their defense will have to come internally. If safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson is able to return for the postseason, that should help.

But the Lions can't count on winning shootouts in the playoffs, where points are historically harder to come by after the wild-card round. They need to get better quickly on that side of the ball.

Lingering lament

Patterson's lack of leg strength is the other lingering concern that could come back to bite the Lions, who passed on a 55-yard field goal try for their lone punt Sunday. Those are kicks most other playoff teams will try confidently in virtual indoor conditions, and those are lost points that could make the difference in postseason games.

But let's give Patterson credit for drilling the game-winner against the Chargers. That's why the Lions brought him back from the Jacksonville Jaguars this offseason, and why they never really had a true kicking competition this summer.

Patterson is among the NFL's most accurate kickers from inside 45 yards. He's 28-for-28 on extra points this year and 12 of 13 on short-distance kicks, with his lone miss a Week 8 shank vs. Las Vegas from 26 yards.

Patterson made a game-winner for the Jaguars in the playoffs last winter and was unflappable in a pressure situation Sunday. The vast majority of NFL kickers would make that same field goal, but it's no lock.

The Lions stand alone with the second-best record in the NFC right now because the 49ers' Jake Moody (a Northville and Michigan graduate) missed a 41-yard field goal at the end of a 19-17 Week 6 loss to the Cleveland Browns, after they spent a third-round pick on him in April's draft.

Playoff picture and a brewing oddity

The Lions (7-2) look like a 12-5 or 13-4 team, which should be enough to win the division and maybe get the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. But the Vikings won't be going down without a fight.

Minnesota won its NFL-best fifth straight game Sunday — and second straight with Joshua Dobbs at quarterback — to keep the heat on the Lions in the NFC North.

The Vikings (6-4) play two of the league's worst teams, the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears, the next two weeks, and should get All-Pro receiver Justin Jefferson back before a difficult stretch run that includes road trips to Cincinnati and Las Vegas and two games with the Lions.

While some may fear Minnesota's resurgence may cost the Lions a home playoff game, I think a competitive race is good for a Lions team that might otherwise coast into January. The best way to ensure playing your best football when it counts is stay in tune with meaningful games every week.

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One oddity to watch: The Lions and Vikings play twice in the final three weeks of the regular season, and the way the playoff seedings stand right now, would meet in the first round of the playoffs. That'd be three games in four weeks, including back-to-back battles in Week 18 and the wild-card round.

I'm not sure how the Lions will approach those end-of-season games with the Vikings should that scenario hold, but the good news is they have the potential NFL Coach of the Year to figure it out.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.

Next up: Bears

Matchup: Lions (7-2) vs. Chicago (3-7).

Kickoff: 1 p.m. Sunday; Ford Field, Detroit.

TV/radio: Fox; WXYT-FM (97.1).

Line: Lions by 10.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 5 Detroit Lions thoughts: An NFL playoffs oddity is brewing