The excitement of the Lions beating the Buccaneers to advance to the NFC Championship Game was lost, as both teams made clock management errors late in the game.
When the Lions intercepted a pass with 1:33 left in the game, the Buccaneers still had one timeout. This means that even if the Lions used the full 40 seconds between kneels, they wouldn't be able to run the clock all the way — as long as the Bucs used their timeout.
The lions knelt down anyway, not even taking a full 40 seconds off the clock between kneeling. But the Bucs never used a deadline. When Lions quarterback Jared Goff knelt for the third and final time, there were 36 seconds on the clock and the Bucs still had a timeout. It was on fourth down, meaning that if the Bucs called their own timeout, the Lions would likely attempt a 49-yard field goal.
If that field goal had been missed, the Buccaneers would have gotten the ball on the 39-yard line with about 30 seconds left in the game, needing to drive 61 yards for a touchdown and then score a two-point conversion to force overtime.
Is it possible that the Lions had missed the field goal, the Buccaneers would have scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion and then won the game in overtime? No. Is this possible? definitely. As the season approaches, the team must do everything in its power to win. The Buccaneers let the final 36 seconds run down the clock and took their timeout on vacation.
Both Lions coach Dan Campbell and Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles have done a good job this season to get their teams to the playoff round, but at the end of this game, they both made key mistakes: Campbell by not running every second he could off the field. hour, and the Bulls did not call his final timeout.
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