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The Buccaneers seemingly had the chance to deploy a last-ditch effort to try to mount a comeback against the Lions on Sunday, and Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles offered an explanation for the decision that left plenty of fans pretty confused.
The Detroit Lions headed into their NFC Divisional showdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the clear-cut favorites, and the guys representing Motor City earned the right to face off against the 49ers in the hopes of punching their ticket to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history with the 31-23 victory at Ford Field.
The Bucs had the chance to mount a game-tying tw0-minute drill in the fourth quarter, but their hopes were essentially dashed when Derrick Barnes picked off Baker Mayfield on the second play of the drive to give his team possession deep into Tampa Bay territory.
The Lions subsequently went into victory formation to officially seal the deal, and Jared Goff capped things off by taking a knee with around 30 seconds remaining in the contest. That was an interesting move when you consider Todd Bowles could’ve stopped the clock to force Detroit to kick a field goal—a tactic he declined to employ.
Why? Well, he shed some light on that decision while speaking with reporters after the contest, saying, “They already had the field goal lined up. There would’ve been around 12 seconds left on the clock at the end of the ballgame. We weren’t going to come back from that.”
Here’s Todd Bowles on why he didn’t call his last time out with 36 seconds left on Detroit’s 4th down kneel: pic.twitter.com/bzOZduSa2a
— River Wells (@riverhwells) January 21, 2024
You do have to give Bowles some credit for not prolonging the seemingly inevitable in that situation, but at the same time, the season was on the line and there was no guarantee the Lions were going to convert the field goal.
There was an almost infinitesimal chance the Buccaneers would’ve been able to score the eight points they needed when everything was said and done, but it feels like you have to at least give it a shot considering the circumstances.