Getty Image / Cooper Neill
The San Francisco 49ers-Detroit Lions NFC Championship Game on Sunday was chock-full of interesting coaching decisions, especially from Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell.
Analytics, and how much they should be used and how fervently they should be followed, is a huge flash point for discussion in the football world. With a game as big as that one involving as many interesting coaching choices as it did, naturally, there would be a lot of discussion afterward on analytics.
Most of the conversation stems around three fourth-down decisions that the ultra-aggressive Campbell made during the game. His decision to kick a field goal with seconds left in the first half and forego field goals in the second half, once up 14 and once down 3, are the talk of the NFL community.
I broke down each situation here, and I only disagreed with Campbell on one of the three.
Naturally, because his choices didn’t necessarily work, it’s easy to clown on Dan Campbell, and I’m sure the San Francisco 49ers players and fans think Dan Campbell isn’t very smart. Star tight end George Kittle echoed those thoughts postgame, when he attacked analytics, saying proponents don’t believe in momentum.
Kittle: "I have a question for you guys. Why do people in analytics say that momentum isn't real? That's the biggest load of horse crap that I've ever heard in my life."
— KP (@KP_Show) January 29, 2024
As someone who believes in analytics, I don’t think most analytics supporters completely disregard momentum, even though momentum is hard to prove when it’s been studied using data of games across sports. Plus, if momentum was so important and powerful, why did the Lions lose it so easily? It doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Ultimately, people will never agree on analytics and momentum, but the San Francisco 49ers are going to the Super Bowl to take on the Kansas City Chiefs, and George Kittle is a big reason why.