Team leaves a sense of pride

Twelve regular-season wins.

Two playoff victories.

One game away from the first Super Bowl in franchise history.

Two coordinators ready to run it back.

If I wrote this column immediately following the Detroit Lions’ 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game on Sunday, it would have been a completely different piece than what it is now.

Sometimes, in-the-moment reactions are not the most thoughtful responses.

After 30 minutes of play, the Super Bowl was on my mind. It would have been difficult for that not to be the case when Detroit, which was playing in its first NFC title game in more than three decades, was out to a 24-7 lead.

But as the old adage says, it was “a tale of two halves.”

Christian McCaffrey, Brock “Mr. Irrelevant” Purdy and the Niners scored 27 straight points to go ahead by 10 with 3:02 left in the game.

Meanwhile, Detroit coach Dan Campell chose to try to convert two fourth downs — the team didn’t get either of them — and the Lions failed to execute on other occasions, often acting as their own worst enemies.

Initially, blame was put on Campbell choosing to forgo two field goal attempts, one of which of nearly 50 yards, in favor of going for it on fourth down. On one occasion, Josh Reynolds dropped a pass on fourth-and-2. On the ensuing San Francisco drive, Detroit defensive back Kindle Vildor had a ball hit off his facemask and Brandon Aiyuk made an incredible catch that led to a score.

Then first-round draft pick Jahmyr Gibbs fumbled, giving the Niners a ball just outside the Lions’ red zone. It led to another 49er touchdown and a 24-24 game.

On another Detroit possession, Reynolds had another key drop, and quarterback Jared Goff threw an errant pass to All-Pro receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown that fell incomplete for another turnover on downs.

Rookie speedster Jameson “Jamo” Williams, who finished with two touchdowns including the game’s first score, had a would-be touchdown go through his arms.

Cam Sutton also failed to catch a potential interception on an underthrown ball from Purdy.

My gut reaction immediately after the defeat was to blame Campbell for costing the Lions potentially six points and the win by not going for the field goals. After having time to think about it before reacting — something most of us could benefit from at times — Campbell was not in the wrong. 

He’s known for attempting fourth-down conversions no matter where the team is on the field. He had 40 fourth-down attempts this season, second only to Carolina’s 48.

It’s no surprise when Detroit goes for it on fourth down. In fact, it was more of a surprise late in the first half when Campbell elected to kick the field goal inside the 5-yard line instead of going for the touchdown. (It was a decision I fully supported, too.)

There’s no fault in going for it when he did during the second half. It is who he is. It’s who he’s been all season long, and he stuck to who he is with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

Where the blame lies is with the failure to execute. 

The two Reynolds drops. The Gibbs fumble. Jamo’s drop. Missed plays from Sutton and Vildor. Goff’s errant throw. That’s where the blame lies.

And that’s just the offense.

I was confident before the game, not the least bit afraid of the 49ers. I posted on Facebook that if the Lions were to lose, it would be self-inflicted. “San Francisco won’t win the game, rather the Lions will lose it.”

Turned out to be true.

After the final whistle Sunday night, my stomach hurt. I was hopeful to cry tears of joy for the third straight week. Instead, I went to bed angry, frustrated, disappointed.

Monday it seemed there was a somber mood around me at all times. It felt like a distant relative died. It just … hurt.

We were so close. We may never get there again, either.

As Campell and Lions players have said since the loss, they just fell a bit short. 

But there’s plenty of reasons for us fans to be proud, and that includes offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn passing up more money with head coaching opportunities to stay in Detroit.

The Lions tied a franchise record for wins in a season. They won a division title for the first time in 30-plus years. They won two playoff games for the first time in franchise history.

But as the often mis-attributed quote to Dr. Seuss says: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”

It was painful that — and how — it ended. But we can certainly smile that it happened.

The Lions are used to being hunters. Now we’re the hunted.

And we wouldn’t have it any other way.