Lions News: Super Bowl champion questions Dan Campbell’s emotional control

Some of MCDC’s decisions are just too much for Tedy Bruschi.

Some people love Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell for his heartfelt coaching style, others aren’t quite so sure about it.

One of those others—ESPN NFL analyst Tedy Bruschi. On “Sunday NFL Countdown,” the three-time Super Bowl champion, who played 13 seasons in the NFL, expressed he’d love Campbell as a teammate, but not so much as a coach.

“I don’t know the emotional control of this coach. I mean, every single time? Does it have to be every single time? The fourth-and-1, when you’re on the 31-yard line going out, that was obvious to me,” Bruschi said.

“This guy wants to go for it, even now, and they get stopped right here and basically give Green Bay a touchdown because all they’ve got to go is like 29 yards and they score a touchdown here and it’s a different game. So, you wouldn’t have been in this situation, maybe, if you punt it and you let your defense play against a quarterback that has a tendency to throw it to the other team. Every single time? Why does it have to be every single time?” Bruschi said.

This sentiment is also likely inspired by Campbell’s decision at the very end of the Packers game. With just 43 seconds left and a 31-31 tie, it seemed obvious the Lions would allow Jake Bates to kick a 39-yard field goal. Instead, they went for it on fourth-and-inches, securing a 7-yard gain and effectively running out the clock for a 35-yard game-winning field goal.

Many were shocked the Lions would risk it and elect to keep the offense on the field. Turns out, there were conflicting reports about how those final moments were treated.

Richard Sherman said on his podcast that after the game, Jared Goff was explaining the team’s series of decisions to Andrew Whitworth (Sherman and Whitworth were part of Amazon’s Thursday night broadcast). Per Whitworth, in those final moments, Campbell told Goff to get the field goal team ready to kick.

“Jared, dejected, is like, ‘Man, I wanted to go,’ and Dan Campbell just looks at him and goes, ‘You want to do it? F it, we’re going for it,’ Sherman said.

Campbell apparently completely changed his mind, believing in his guys. Sherman said that’s exactly how it should be.

“You say, I’m going to believe in my quarterback and what he sees and what he does — that’s a gut feeling, and that’s why this team is ready to run through walls for Dan Campbell,” he said.

However, Campbell denied that Goff said anything to convince him to go for it.

“No, he just wanted to know what we were doing,” Campbell said. “Like, ‘Let’s go. Are we going or are we not going?’ Which I’m with him, I mean I’d want to know.”

And onto the rest of your notes.

• In case you missed this Sunday, Vikings CB Byron Murphy says enough Lions, people need to be talking about Minnesota.

• The Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown pairing was ranked the fourth-best quarterback and receiver duo in the league by ESPN’S Dan Orlovsky.

• Absolutely incredible — see who won a Dan Campbell lookalike contest that drew 22 competitors at the Hopcat brew pub in Midtown Detroit Sunday afternoon.

• Another Jared Goff and Dan Miller one-on-one over on FOX 2.

• JJ Watt defends Kerby Joseph from the building narrative that he’s playing dirty after a Packers reporter called him a “scumbag.”