Lions head coach Dan Campbell showed he’s not afraid to make bold decisions, even if it’s an unpopular thought.

Late in the game, with the Packers and Lions tied for 31 seconds, Campbell decided to punt on 4th-and-1 at the Green Bay 21 with 43 seconds left.

It was a tough, bold decision for Campbell after it initially looked like Jake Bates was coming onto the field for a field goal attempt.

“(Dan Campbell is) itching to try it. But of course he has to shoot that field goal to potentially win this game, to at least take a three lead here,” Kirk Herbstreit said in the Prime Video broadcast.

But Jared Goff remained on the field as the Lions attempted their fourth down conversion.

The decision paid off – even if it was much more explosive than Campbell would have liked – as Goff got his feet tangled as he passed the ball to David Montgomery, who eventually took the ball over for 7 yards and a first down brought the line.

“I just stumbled a little bit up there,” Goff said. “It’s a bad feeling when you’re quarterback.”

That ensured the Lions could attempt a field goal without giving the Packers the ball back, and Bates made his game-winning kick in the third game of the season.

“I just felt like we had to finish it on offense,” said Campbell, who rushed five times on fourth down and only failed to convert the ball once. “I didn’t want to give the ball back and believed we could convert. I trust the O-line. I trust David.”

Detroit managed to clinch the victory with Bates kicking the game-winning field goal as time expired for a 34-31 win.

“We discussed over the course of the week that we were going to be pretty aggressive about this,” Goff said on the postgame show. “Dan let us know at the beginning of the week, ‘Hey, we’re putting this on your shoulders.’ We’re going to be pretty aggressive and if there’s a chance to play fourth, we’ll do it.”

The Lions converted four of their five fourth-down chances against the Packers in a crucial NFC North showdown between two rival teams.

With Thursday’s win, the Lions remained one of two teams with a single loss in the NFL.

– with AP