We were all behind Dan on the 4th down call. Let’s get that out of the way first. If you could rewind time, we’d all do it again. A hundred times out of a hundred. The offense. The defense. Everybody. If you have been following this team’s journey for the last three years, then you know how we play football. You know the mentality that got us here.

It was the right decision — and I’m not talking about the right decision for analytics or talk radio or whatever. It was the right call for us, especially in that moment. When you’re in that situation, 20 games into an NFL season, it’s not like a video game. You’re not playing Madden. You had guys out there playing with bum ankles. Guys playing with MCL sprains. Guys taking nerve injections and toradol. Guys who could barely get out of bed that morning. It’s a battle of wills at that point in the season. You’re just running on pure belief and adrenaline. I feel like if you shy away from your identity in that moment, then you’re betraying the very thing that got you there.

On 4th down, in that situation, we’re always going for the kill. That mentality took us from 0–10–1 to the NFC Championship game in just a few seasons. Honestly, if anything, when we decided to kick the field goal in the first half, I was more surprised then.

When the chips are down, Detroit is always going to bet on Detroit.

Having said that, is it painful? Yes, it aches a lot. Which day is it now? I was kind of dazed. It’s Saturday, according to my phone. Well, on Saturday, it still hurts. A week after the NFC Championship, my son Cooper’s eyes are the only way I can truly convey my feelings.

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At the age of just three, he provided the finest summary of it. Just before Christmas 2021, following our first-ever victory against the Vikings, he took his first steps at our former Detroit townhouse. We had a 1-10-1 record, and my contract was for a year. Good times. When Cooper was clumsily navigating our Christmas tree, you could have told me that we would be here in

Fast forward to six o’clock in the morning as I’m pulling into my driveway the morning after the 49ers game, and I was devastated. A few tears were definitely shed in the locker room. A few more on the plane home. When I got into the house, it was a surreal feeling. You have to know a bit about our family’s story to understand. My wife, Lindsey, she’s my absolute rock. There’s nothing I can say here that would sum up how much she means to me, and how emotional the last three years of our lives have been. In 2021, Cooper was born. In 2022, right before our second training camp in Detroit, as we were preparing to welcome our second child into the world, we had a miscarriage. The toll that kind of nightmare takes on a mom is always so so hard, but when you have a one-year-old at home and your husband is always on the road or at work ….. Well, it’s just amazing to me how she was able to be so strong for us all.

I tell guys all the time — especially the young guys — nobody loves football like I love football. But it’s still just football. There’s things that will happen in your life, good and bad, that will make what happens between the white lines seem very small in comparison.

The way that this city and all the fans lifted me and my family up during those dark days added a whole other dimension to this season. When our daughter, Carter, was born right before the holidays, and we were playing such great football, and all the Christmas lights and the Lions flags were going up all over the city, it was such a special time. Probably the happiest I’ve ever been. The only thing that could have possibly made it any better?