Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell stood by his decision to go for two fourth downs in the second half of the NFC Championship Game. But he was less certain about the second decision of the game in the fourth quarter.With 10 and 1:05 left in the game, the Lions went on third down at the San Francisco 49ers 1 yard line. Detroit still had all three overtimes.But to have the best chance to get the ball back, the Lions needed to score without taking time.On third down, however, the 49ers fumbled for a 2-yard loss by David Montgomery. The Lions scored on the next play, but an incomplete third-and-goal forced Detroit to call a timeout to save the clock.Campbell second-guessed his decision to share the third goal with reporters the day after the game.“It’s easy to throw. It should probably be the right thing to do, Campbell told the media. “But for me, I wanted to ride it. I thought we were going to blow it. We only had two minutes [drilled] all the way to throw the football and they were four ahead and I thought”We just passed. the quarter, so yes, I have to use time and run. And it didn’t work. So I made a play and I lost.”NFC Championship ends with Lions’ onside kick failureWith only 2 overtimes and 56 seconds left on the clock, the Lions had very little chance to get the ball back.So , the Lions 2023 regular season shot success rate was still only 4.8%With so little time, the Lions could have attempted a shot even if they had all 3 overtimes. But if Detroit’s defense prevented San Francisco from getting a first down, all three breaks would have ensured the Lions got a second even if there was no recovery.Only 2 overtimes, but the game was effectively over when 49ers tight end George Kittle returned the kick.San Francisco called 3 runs to run the clock under 5 seconds (while Detroit used 2 timeouts). The 49ers then took a knee as the clock expired on fourth-and-long.Dan Campbell of the Lions defends a quarter down.Although scoring on third down was a crucial mistake for the Lions, many pundits said the game was already lost.Campbell decided to go for 2 4th and short (3 yards or less) conversions in the second half instead of going 46-48 yards. The Lions were unable to turn the tide both times.As Campbell suggested, hindsight is always 20/20. The “safer bet” would have been to capture the targets. But Lions kicker Michael Badgley is 17-for-29 on field goals longer than 40 yards since the 2019 NFC Championship.It’s not exactly a safe bet.Percentage wise it was actually safer to keep the offense on the field. Including the postseason, the Lions were 17-of-22 on fourth downs of 3 yards or less.”I felt really good that we moved and got momentum and didn’t let them play the long ball,” Campbell told reporters in the postgame press conference. – They ran out of time, that’s what they do, and I wanted to get the lead back.”It’s easy in hindsight and I understand that, but I don’t regret these decisions.”However, Campbell seems to wish the team called for a pass instead of a run on its final third down attempt of the season..