Bob Wojnowski: Lions kicking themselves for squandering this one vs. Buccaneers

DETROIT — This one will take a while to decipher, even longer to digest. And when the Lions finish sifting through it, they’ll probably feel worse.

They’ll kick themselves for all sorts of reasons, including the fact they literally didn’t kick themselves when they had a chance. Time and space kept running out on the Lions, and in the end, Tampa Bay escaped Ford Field with a 20-16 victory Sunday.

Strange numbers told the story of a strange game, and the season’s first loss was a head-scratcher and a gut-puncher. The Lions had numerous chances to score, and several chances in the closing minutes to win. They dominated the statistical categories but came up short in the important categories — big plays, mistakes, coaching. Lions pass-rush demon Aidan Hutchinson was the player of the game, sacking Baker Mayfield 4 1/2 times. But Mayfield made the plays of the game, throwing a 41-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin and scoring on an 11-yard run.

Dan Campbell said it started with coaching, and to a degree, he’s right. He took ownership of the most glaring gaffe, but there were plenty to go around. Utter confusion at the end of the first half prevented the Lions from kicking a field goal. It cost them precious points, and afterward, Campbell was still kicking himself for it.

“I asked for improvement last week, and we did improve,” Campbell said. “Their head coach cost them. … That’s 100% on me. There’s no way to justify this. It’s a massive error on my part, no one else’s.”

Well, it was a massive error on someone’s part. As the final 18 seconds of the half ticked away, with no timeouts, the field-goal unit rushed on, but the offense stayed out there. The ensuing penalty wiped out the final seconds and a chance at a 27-yard field goal, and the Lions took a 13-6 deficit to halftime.

It turned out to be a telling turn of events. The Lions were right there numerous times but couldn’t bust through against a feisty but battered Bucs defense. It was the second straight tight clash against a team the Lions beat in last season’s playoffs, and they’d better get used to this, if they aren’t already. They edged the Rams in overtime last week and now take a 1-1 record to Arizona next Sunday.

This was another taste and test of how this season will unfold, and the Lions' defense played very well. But offensive reprisals don’t happen automatically or easily, especially when everyone sees you coming now, and knows what you’re bringing.

The Lions moved the ball all day until it really mattered and couldn’t get their running game fully uncorked. Jared Goff threw for 307 yards but tossed two interceptions (on the first one, Jameson Williams was bumped off the route by a defender). Seven times the Lions rolled into the red zone, inside Tampa Bay’s 20, and only once did they produce a touchdown.

Stats can say whatever you want them to say, but these are more peculiar than most. The Lions doubled up the Bucs in almost every category, from total yards (463-216) to first downs (26-14) to third-down conversions (7-for-17 versus 2-for-10). But they also doubled and tripled them in turnovers (2-1), penalty yards (71-35) and red-zone failures (6-1).

The Bucs are a perennial playoff team with an excellent defense under Todd Bowles, but they were missing their best player in the secondary, Antoine Winfield Jr., and lost defensive line star Vita Vea during the game. Obstacles should have become opportunities, but again and again, the Lions pressed and fell short. Amon-Ra St. Brown was back to his productive self with 11 receptions for 119 yards, and Williams’ big-play knack was back on display, catching a 50-yarder that led only to a field goal.

“They were mixing it up pretty good, but we moved the ball pretty dang well,” said Goff, who was 34 for 55. “Unfortunately, we just couldn’t finish drives in the red zone, and that’ll get you beat.”

The Lions were in the red zone for five plays in the final five minutes, trailing 20-16, and kept throwing short to the edges instead of into the end zone. That looked like another coaching miscue. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is as creative as anyone but didn’t dial up any big shots.

On fourth-and-8 from the Bucs’ 11 with 1:01 left, Goff flipped the ball to Jahmyr Gibbs, who came up 3 yards short. After a punt, one more gasp ended with Goff throwing an incompletion from Tampa Bay’s 26.

“We just never felt real comfortable,” Campbell said. “I thought we were about to take off and this thing’s gonna end up in the end zone, and we couldn’t ever do it.”

Goff wasn’t sharp, but Campbell didn’t dish blame. Just like he didn’t shuffle responsibility for the field-goal mishap to special teams coordinator Dave Fipp. Under Campbell, accountability matters, and when he takes it, others take it.

There’s some blame, sure, but no shame in losing to the Bucs (2-0). Mayfield, like Goff, is armed with a hefty new contract and determined to live up to it. He’s not exactly artistic but he’s a grinding gamer, and while Hutchinson nailed him several times, he dodged a few more. Mayfield, like most of the Bucs, certainly remembered last year’s playoff encounter in Ford Field, won by the Lions 31-23.

“You always remember your last loss of the season, especially in the playoffs,” Mayfield said. “Now, whether it was extra motivation, no, I really wouldn’t say that. Any time on the road in an atmosphere like this against a team as highly competitive as they are, yeah, we were thinking about the end to our season, but it wasn’t a revenge game by any means.”

Campbell and the Lions are in a unique situation for them. This team has never gone through a season as targeted (and talented) as they are. They have to keep the gambling mentality that got them here, and adjust when defenses take something away, such as the Bucs’ limiting tight end Sam LaPorta to two catches.

Campbell flashed his fabled edge midway through the second quarter with the Lions trailing, 13-6, and stalling. On fourth-and-12 from his own 20, he called a fake punt, and Jack Fox lofted a 17-yard strike to Sione Vaki. Later, Campbell went for it again on fourth-and-2 and David Montgomery gained 3 yards, but the drive died.

Gambling Dan isn’t changing, and he shouldn’t, although he did settle for three field goals. It would’ve been four, of course, except in Campbell’s words, delivered in a halftime interview on Fox, “I totally screwed my team.”

He didn’t totally, but circumstances are changing around the Lions, in how they’re viewed and how they’re expected to respond. The Bucs played with an emotional ferocity that sure seemed like a respectful nod to the playoff game.

“That’s something we talked about as a team, that we felt like we kind of crossed over into this threshold,” Campbell said. “We’re perceived as a team that’s finding ways to win. We’re pretty tough, physical, we play a certain way, we go to the NFC Championship game. …. We know we’re going to get everybody’s best.”

The Bucs didn’t win most of the battles, just the timely ones. The Lions are growing accustomed to getting an opponent’s best. Delivering their best in return will be the unrelenting challenge.

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