SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Detroit Lions passed on two long field goals for fourth down attempts they failed to convert in Sunday’s 34-31 NFC championship game loss to the San Francisco 49ers, but Lions coach Dan Campbell said he doesn’t regret either of those decisions.

‘It’s easy hindsight and I get it,’ Campbell said. ‘I get that. But I don’t regret those decisions and that’s hard. That’s hard, because they didn’t — we didn’t come through, it wasn’t able to work out, but I don’t. I don’t. And I understand the scrutiny I’ll get, that’s part of the gig. But we just — it just didn’t work out.’

The Lions raced to a 24-7 halftime lead and appeared to be on their way to their first ever Super Bowl before the 49ers rallied for 27 straight points in the second half.

The 49ers opened the third quarter with a long field goal drive, then scored two touchdowns in a 2-minute, 15-second span later in the period after the Lions failed to convert a fourth-and-2 from the San Francisco 28-yard line.

Nick Bosa beat Taylor Decker to pressure Jared Goff on the play, and Goff threw incomplete to Josh Reynolds after he stepped up in the pocket to avoid a sack.

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‘We didn’t connect,’ Goff said. ‘I’ll throw a better ball next time.’

You can watch Campbell’s answer below:

The 49ers led, 27-24, midway through the fourth quarter when Campbell again eschewed a long field goal, this one from 48 yards, to try and convert on fourth-and-3.

Goff was flushed from the pocket by pressure up the middle by Arik Armstead and fluttered an incompletion to Amon-Ra St. Brown as he rolled to his right.

The 49ers followed with a seven-play, 70-yard touchdown drive to clinch the game.

Goff said he doesn’t believe the Lions’ failed conversion attempts flipped momentum San Francisco’s way — ‘I loved them. We got to convert,’ he said — and he defended Campbell’s aggressive approach Sunday.

‘He believes in us,’ Goff said. ‘I don’t know what the numbers are but we had a lot of big-time conversions this year that changed games and I don’t know what we were today. I know we had the two we didn’t convert (and were 1-for-3 overall). It can change a game if you convert them and we didn’t. And that’s part of the reason why we lost.’

Campbell has been one of the NFL’s most aggressive coaches in fourth-down situations since he took over as Lions coach in 2021, and those decisions helped fuel the Lions’ rise to contention and this year’s run to the NFC title game.

The Lions set an NFL record for fourth down attempts (41) in 2021 and are 65 of 123 overall (52.8%) in Campbell’s three seasons as coach. They converted a fake punt that keyed an early-season win over the Kansas City Chiefs and went 3 for 5 on fourth downs in this year’s playoffs.

Campbell said he passed on the would-be game-tying field goal on his second conversion attempt Sunday to try and get momentum back on the Lions’ side.

‘I just felt really good about us converting and getting our momentum and not letting them play long ball,’ he said. ‘They were bleeding the clock out, that’s what they do and I wanted to get the upper hand back.’

Instead, the Lions failed, and they’re headed home for the season.

Jackson had one of his smallest performances in the biggest game of the year as his top-seeded Baltimore Ravens succumbed 17-10 to the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s AFC championship game at M&T Bank Stadium.

“No excuses,” Jackson said afterward, dirt and grass still caked to his body during his postgame news conference.

Yet he was cleanly transparent about the disappointment of falling short of his long-avowed goal of winning a Lombardi Trophy, something the Ravens haven’t done in 11 years.

“I’m angry about losing,” said Jackson, who joined the club as a first-round pick in 2018.

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“We were a game away from the Super Bowl. We’ve been waiting all this time, all these moments for an opportunity like this, and we fell short.”

Surprisingly so.

Jackson rushed for 54 yards, a team-high, but Baltimore only managed 81 on the ground altogether – its lowest total of the season and about half its usual output. Worse, Jackson was constantly under fire from Kansas City’s blitz while trying to pass – sacked four times, stripped once and serving up an interception on a throw intended for tight end Isaiah Likely, who was covered by three Chiefs in the end zone.

“He’s a great player. The whole game plan and the whole focus is on him and stopping him first,” Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill said of Jackson.

“He had a couple big plays, and he is going to have a couple of plays. He’s a great player and an MVP-caliber player. I thought blow after blow, 15 rounds, heavyweight fight – I thought we got the best of them tonight.”

Jackson did pass for 272 yards (many of the empty-calorie variety late in the game) and hit rookie receiver Zay Flowers on a 30-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter. But after that, Kansas City clamped down and largely rendered the Ravens into a one-dimensional, mistake-prone team. Aside from Jackson’s turnovers, Flowers fumbled right before breaking the plane for what would have been a crucial fourth-quarter touchdown that might have cut Kansas City’s lead to three points.

“We’ve just got to put points on the board,” said Jackson. “That’s the thing right now. There’s nothing we could have done better to prepare for the game.

“If we put points on the board … we’d be talking about something else right now.”

Yet despite whatever non-calls the officials didn’t make, mistakes made by teammates or the generally clean and efficient gameplan executed by the reigning champion Chiefs, Jackson – quicksilver as he is – isn’t going to be able to evade the growing narrative that he can’t win the big one.

“Honestly, what hurts me the most is that I wanted to get him the recognition that he deserves,” said Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen in reference to his quarterback. “It’s a team sport, it’s a team effort, but that guy was the main guy I was playing for, honestly.

“So much stuff he gets that he doesn’t deserve. This was his opportunity to be able to write some of that stuff off and move on to the next thing. That’s why it hurts, because you want to see people like that, teammates that you love and care about, get what they’re supposed to get, and that didn’t happen today.”

Added Baltimore center Tyler Linderbaum: “Lamar, he made us go. He’s our leader, and we certainly wanted to get it done for him. But we didn’t.”

A week after his first truly scintillating postseason performance in a 34-10 divisional-round rout of the Houston Texans, Jackson’s playoff record now stands at 2-4. Yet this season also marked a step in the right direction, Baltimore reaching the title round for the first time with Jackson, who turned 27 earlier this month. Even if it didn’t show Sunday, he’s evolved as a passer and matured as a leader.

But this wasn’t his moment.

And if there’s anyone who understands that championship greatness can be slow to arrive, it’s Jackson’s teammate, wideout Odell Beckham Jr.

“A player like Lamar, thirty years from now − when we speak of Lamar Jackson playing – and everyone’s going to remember there’s certain moments that define your … career. And this is just one,” said OBJ.

“The greats have all been through tough times, and I don’t think this is gonna stop him from wanting to get to his ultimate goal.”

***

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.

Jackson had one of his smallest performances in the biggest game of the year as his top-seeded Baltimore Ravens succumbed 17-10 to the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s AFC championship game at M&T Bank Stadium.

“No excuses,” Jackson said afterward, dirt and grass still caked to his body during his postgame news conference.

Yet he was cleanly transparent about the disappointment of falling short of his long-avowed goal of winning a Lombardi Trophy, something the Ravens haven’t done in 11 years.

“I’m angry about losing,” said Jackson, who joined the club as a first-round pick in 2018.

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“We were a game away from the Super Bowl. We’ve been waiting all this time, all these moments for an opportunity like this, and we fell short.”

Surprisingly so.

Jackson rushed for 54 yards, a team-high, but Baltimore only managed 81 on the ground altogether – its lowest total of the season and about half its usual output. Worse, Jackson was constantly under fire from Kansas City’s blitz while trying to pass – sacked four times, stripped once and serving up an interception on a throw intended for tight end Isaiah Likely, who was covered by three Chiefs in the end zone.

“He’s a great player. The whole game plan and the whole focus is on him and stopping him first,” Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill said of Jackson.

“He had a couple big plays, and he is going to have a couple of plays. He’s a great player and an MVP-caliber player. I thought blow after blow, 15 rounds, heavyweight fight – I thought we got the best of them tonight.”

Jackson did pass for 272 yards (many of the empty-calorie variety late in the game) and hit rookie receiver Zay Flowers on a 30-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter. But after that, Kansas City clamped down and largely rendered the Ravens into a one-dimensional, mistake-prone team. Aside from Jackson’s turnovers, Flowers fumbled right before breaking the plane for what would have been a crucial fourth-quarter touchdown that might have cut Kansas City’s lead to three points.

“We’ve just got to put points on the board,” said Jackson. “That’s the thing right now. There’s nothing we could have done better to prepare for the game.

“If we put points on the board … we’d be talking about something else right now.”

Yet despite whatever non-calls the officials didn’t make, mistakes made by teammates or the generally clean and efficient gameplan executed by the reigning champion Chiefs, Jackson – quicksilver as he is – isn’t going to be able to evade the growing narrative that he can’t win the big one.

“Honestly, what hurts me the most is that I wanted to get him the recognition that he deserves,” said Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen in reference to his quarterback. “It’s a team sport, it’s a team effort, but that guy was the main guy I was playing for, honestly.

“So much stuff he gets that he doesn’t deserve. This was his opportunity to be able to write some of that stuff off and move on to the next thing. That’s why it hurts, because you want to see people like that, teammates that you love and care about, get what they’re supposed to get, and that didn’t happen today.”

Added Baltimore center Tyler Linderbaum: “Lamar, he made us go. He’s our leader, and we certainly wanted to get it done for him. But we didn’t.”

A week after his first truly scintillating postseason performance in a 34-10 divisional-round rout of the Houston Texans, Jackson’s playoff record now stands at 2-4. Yet this season also marked a step in the right direction, Baltimore reaching the title round for the first time with Jackson, who turned 27 earlier this month. Even if it didn’t show Sunday, he’s evolved as a passer and matured as a leader.

But this wasn’t his moment.

And if there’s anyone who understands that championship greatness can be slow to arrive, it’s Jackson’s teammate, wideout Odell Beckham Jr.

“A player like Lamar, thirty years from now − when we speak of Lamar Jackson playing – and everyone’s going to remember there’s certain moments that define your … career. And this is just one,” said OBJ.

“The greats have all been through tough times, and I don’t think this is gonna stop him from wanting to get to his ultimate goal.”

***

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.

If it feels like we’ve been here before, it’s because we have.

For a second consecutive year, and fourth time in five seasons, the Kansas City Chiefs are in the Super Bowl. Their opponent is the San Francisco 49ers, who just so happen to be the team the Chiefs beat to start their era of dominance.

Gives new meaning to the term “run it back.”

‘They’re a hell of a team. Got a hell of a coach, hell of a quarterback, hell of a defense,’ Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said. ‘Haven’t gotten to see them much this year because we haven’t had a lot of crossover tape.

‘But we already have a pretty good idea of how it’s going to look,’ he added. ‘They’ve been doing it for a while, since we met them in ’19. Seems like they’ve been there every year since. We’ve been trying really hard to get back to that moment. Been close a number of times, and this time we got it done.’

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Few would have expected this rematch midway through the season — and not just because of the Super Bowl logo conspiracy theory. As formidable as the Chiefs have looked in the playoffs, they appeared that vulnerable in the regular season.

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce had lost their mojo, with Kelce supposedly “distracted” by his high-profile relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift. The receiving corps was a miscue waiting to happen. Steve Spagnuolo’s defense was vicious, but it had its moments of inconsistency, too. (Cough, Green Bay Packers, cough.)

But when it came to crunch time, the Chiefs did what they’ve been doing for the last five years.

Kelce had 11 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown in Kansas City’s 17-10 win in Sunday’s AFC championship, coming up with big plays whenever the Chiefs needed one. As for those maligned receivers, Mahomes sealed the win with a 32-yard pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

And Spagnuolo’s defense was at its best, harassing presumptive MVP Lamar Jackson into his worst game of the season.

‘It’s tough (to do) back to back to back seasons,’ Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. ‘It‘s a tough thing and you’ve got to work through that, got to work through that mentally. It’s not an easy thing. I’m so happy for the guys and how they handled that. When the time came to put the hammer down, they put the hammer down.

‘And the best part is, we’re not done. We’ve got another game. You love these seasons to carry on as long as they can possibly carry on and we’re there.’

Facing a familiar foe. On paper, at least.

While the core of the Chiefs is largely the same as it’s been since 2019 — Mahomes, Kelce, the Spagnuolo defense — the 49ers are a vastly different team. Yes, Kyle Shanahan is still the coach. Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk are still making life miserable for defensive coordinators.

But Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco’s quarterback five years ago, is long gone. Ditto for Trey Lance. Brock Purdy, the current quarterback, is just two years removed from being Mr. Irrelevant, the last pick in the NFL draft.

‘I wasn’t here, obviously, in ’19 but you could just tell the guys (who were) … it’ll be special for them to play these guys,’ Purdy said.

But the biggest difference from the Niners of 2019 to now is the addition of Christian McCaffrey, the best offensive player in the NFC. The Niners picked him up midway through last season after five-plus seasons in Carolina, and he will test Kansas City’s defense in ways no other player has.

Just ask the Detroit Lions. They had a 17-point lead on the Niners at halftime, but McCaffrey’s second score of the game tied it up near the end of the third quarter. McCaffrey finished with 90 yards on 20 carries and also had four catches for 42 yards in the 34-31 win.

‘Obviously they’re a great team, great defense,’ McCaffrey said. ‘Big challenge on a big stage and we’re excited about it.’

And unlike 2019, the Niners have had to scramble just to get to the Super Bowl. They had to rally last weekend against the Packers and then again against the Lions.

‘When you have to come back and you have to win two very gritty games, it kind of sets a sense of urgency in the entire building,’ Kittle said. ‘It kind of just throws some gas on the fire … like, `Like `Hey guys, we were almost out of it two different times. Let’s try not to do that again.”

According to Tony Holzman-Escareno, senior researcher for the NFL, this will be the fourth Super Bowl rematch between coaches. The others were Chuck Noll and Tom Landry; Jimmy Johnson and Marv Levy; and Tom Coughlin and Bill Belichick. If you know your NFL history, you know where this stat is going.

The coach who won the first game also won the second.

But as the saying goes, that is why they play the game. Maybe the Chiefs will win again, cementing their status as a dynasty. Maybe the Niners will exact their revenge and prove they are the team everyone thought they were all season.

What is certain is that this rematch, this meeting of the best team during the regular season and the best in the playoffs will likely be, as Shanahan said, a hell of a game.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

If it feels like we’ve been here before, it’s because we have.

For a second consecutive year, and fourth time in five seasons, the Kansas City Chiefs are in the Super Bowl. Their opponent is the San Francisco 49ers, who just so happen to be the team the Chiefs beat to start their era of dominance.

Gives new meaning to the term “run it back.”

‘They’re a hell of a team. Got a hell of a coach, hell of a quarterback, hell of a defense,’ Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said. ‘Haven’t gotten to see them much this year because we haven’t had a lot of crossover tape.

‘But we already have a pretty good idea of how it’s going to look,’ he added. ‘They’ve been doing it for a while, since we met them in ’19. Seems like they’ve been there every year since. We’ve been trying really hard to get back to that moment. Been close a number of times, and this time we got it done.’

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Few would have expected this rematch midway through the season — and not just because of the Super Bowl logo conspiracy theory. As formidable as the Chiefs have looked in the playoffs, they appeared that vulnerable in the regular season.

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce had lost their mojo, with Kelce supposedly “distracted” by his high-profile relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift. The receiving corps was a miscue waiting to happen. Steve Spagnuolo’s defense was vicious, but it had its moments of inconsistency, too. (Cough, Green Bay Packers, cough.)

But when it came to crunch time, the Chiefs did what they’ve been doing for the last five years.

Kelce had 11 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown in Kansas City’s 17-10 win in Sunday’s AFC championship, coming up with big plays whenever the Chiefs needed one. As for those maligned receivers, Mahomes sealed the win with a 32-yard pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

And Spagnuolo’s defense was at its best, harassing presumptive MVP Lamar Jackson into his worst game of the season.

‘It’s tough (to do) back to back to back seasons,’ Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. ‘It‘s a tough thing and you’ve got to work through that, got to work through that mentally. It’s not an easy thing. I’m so happy for the guys and how they handled that. When the time came to put the hammer down, they put the hammer down.

‘And the best part is, we’re not done. We’ve got another game. You love these seasons to carry on as long as they can possibly carry on and we’re there.’

Facing a familiar foe. On paper, at least.

While the core of the Chiefs is largely the same as it’s been since 2019 — Mahomes, Kelce, the Spagnuolo defense — the 49ers are a vastly different team. Yes, Kyle Shanahan is still the coach. Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk are still making life miserable for defensive coordinators.

But Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco’s quarterback five years ago, is long gone. Ditto for Trey Lance. Brock Purdy, the current quarterback, is just two years removed from being Mr. Irrelevant, the last pick in the NFL draft.

‘I wasn’t here, obviously, in ’19 but you could just tell the guys (who were) … it’ll be special for them to play these guys,’ Purdy said.

But the biggest difference from the Niners of 2019 to now is the addition of Christian McCaffrey, the best offensive player in the NFC. The Niners picked him up midway through last season after five-plus seasons in Carolina, and he will test Kansas City’s defense in ways no other player has.

Just ask the Detroit Lions. They had a 17-point lead on the Niners at halftime, but McCaffrey’s second score of the game tied it up near the end of the third quarter. McCaffrey finished with 90 yards on 20 carries and also had four catches for 42 yards in the 34-31 win.

‘Obviously they’re a great team, great defense,’ McCaffrey said. ‘Big challenge on a big stage and we’re excited about it.’

And unlike 2019, the Niners have had to scramble just to get to the Super Bowl. They had to rally last weekend against the Packers and then again against the Lions.

‘When you have to come back and you have to win two very gritty games, it kind of sets a sense of urgency in the entire building,’ Kittle said. ‘It kind of just throws some gas on the fire … like, `Like `Hey guys, we were almost out of it two different times. Let’s try not to do that again.”

According to Tony Holzman-Escareno, senior researcher for the NFL, this will be the fourth Super Bowl rematch between coaches. The others were Chuck Noll and Tom Landry; Jimmy Johnson and Marv Levy; and Tom Coughlin and Bill Belichick. If you know your NFL history, you know where this stat is going.

The coach who won the first game also won the second.

But as the saying goes, that is why they play the game. Maybe the Chiefs will win again, cementing their status as a dynasty. Maybe the Niners will exact their revenge and prove they are the team everyone thought they were all season.

What is certain is that this rematch, this meeting of the best team during the regular season and the best in the playoffs will likely be, as Shanahan said, a hell of a game.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

For the casual NFL fan, this might seem like an absurd idea. The Kansas City Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champions, the team with one of the most prolific quarterbacks of his generation under center and one of the greatest coaches of all-time on the sidelines … as underdogs? Really?

And yet, that’s how Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice said they felt: overlooked.

‘It’s a little different,’ Rice told USA TODAY Sports. ‘When you win a championship, the people on the outside expect you to be perfect. And us not having a perfect season … just kind of worried everybody else on the outside.

‘But us, on the inside,’ he continued, ‘we knew what we were doing.’

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Kansas City is back in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years after outslugging the Baltimore Ravens, 17-10, on a gray Sunday afternoon. That the Chiefs made it to the sport’s grandest stage, again, is not exactly a surprise. This time, the path they took to get there was just a little bit different.

After finishing either first or second in the AFC for five years, the Chiefs entered this year’s playoffs as a No. 3 seed. And after hosting the AFC championship game every year since 2018, at times thanks to the loss of a higher-ranked team, they had to play two games on the road − and go through the two top-seeded teams in the AFC.

‘We earned it,’ Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling said from a cigar-scented locker room. ‘We deserve to be here. It wasn’t a fluke.’

The Chiefs won Sunday, at least in part, by beating the Ravens at their own game. Against a Baltimore team that led the NFL in sacks during the regular season, Kansas City finished with four sacks to the hosts’ two. Against a Baltimore defense that led the league in takeaways, the Chiefs didn’t commit a turnover and forced three − including an interception by Deon Bush that effectively wrapped up the game.

Perhaps most importantly: In a game with two of the league’s most dangerous quarterbacks, the Chiefs managed to both dominate possession and score first, on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to Travis Kelce.

‘Punch a bully in the face,’ Rice said of his team’s mindset. ‘A bully never been punched in the face before.’

At its core, Kansas City played like a team that was both familiar with the stage and comfortable with the stakes. And that was no accident.

Head coach Andy Reid, who will be returning to the Super Bowl for a fifth time, praised his team for not just how they played but the mentality they brought into the game.

‘It’s tough to go back to back to back seasons. It’s a tough thing,’ Reid said. ‘You played a lot of football games. You’ve got to work through that. You got to work through that mentally. That’s not an easy thing. I’m so happy for the guys and how they handled that. When it came time to put the hammer down, they put the hammer down.’

Multiple Chiefs players, including Mahomes, said they relished the fact that this year’s postseason forced them to play on the road. After spending so many championship Sundays at Arrowhead Stadium, they had to play Josh Allen in Buffalo and Lamar Jackson in Baltimore. Las Vegas sportsbooks considered them to be underdogs in both games.

They might very well be underdogs in Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas on Feb. 11, too. And if they are, the mentality is clear: So be it.

‘There were so many doubters, but it is hard to doubt (Mahomes). It’s hard to doubt (Reid),’ Bush said. ‘We’ve got Hall of Famers in the building, and we have a bunch of character people. We worked hard and we always believed. We never doubted ourselves at all.’

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @Tom_Schad.