Dan Campbell Takes Blame After Controversial Ending to Lions' Loss vs. Steelers

Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell says it was his team's need of a late score, not the offensive pass interference calls that negated two potential touchdowns, that led to their Week 16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

The Lions conceded a 29-24 defeat and fell out of the playoff picture after a fourth-quarter comeback ended at the one-yard line when OPI calls wiped out two scoring attempts on their final drive.

"At the end of the day, that's on us," Campbell told reporters after the loss. "I mean, we did that. We're the one who put ourselves in that position, where we had to try to score on that last play.

"Some of the efforts were outstanding, and it was just too little, too late. A lot of, we just didn't make enough plays."

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Sunday night's matchup concluded with a game-ending OPI call on Amon-Ra St. Brown, whose lateral game-winning touchdown pass to Jared Goff was deemed legal before the play was wiped out following officials' ruling that Brown had interfered with the Steelers' Jalen Ramsey earlier in the play.

After a lengthy on-field discussion following the play, officials decided time had expired and the game was over.

Referee Carl Cheffers told PFWA pool reporter Nolan Bianchi after the game that St. Brown had been called because he "created separation that gave him an advantage in catching the pass" by pushing off from Ramsey (h/t NFL Network's Ian Rapoport).

"It is a pretty complex play. We had the original player who had the ball, lose possession of the ball," Cheffers told Bianchi. "So, we had to decide if that was a fumble or a backwards pass because of course we have restrictions on the recovery of a fumble inside of two minutes. We ruled that it was a backward pass, so the recovering player was able to advance it and that recovering player advanced it for a touchdown. We had to rule on that and then because of the offensive pass interference, it negates the touchdown.

"Because it is an offensive foul, we do not extend the half. Therefore, there is no score and there is no replay of the down. That's the way the rule is written."

When asked about the play after the loss, Campbell answered, "I mean, look, you think you score, you don't score, and then you think you're going to have another play, replay it or back it up one more shot, and it doesn't. And that's just, I guess that's the way it's written in the rulebook. So, that's frustrating.

"But there, again, it shouldn't ever come to that. We had our opportunities. We weren't able to put it in before that play."

The Steelers gave the Lions a chance to come back and win in regulation when kicker Chris Boswell hit the goal post on a field goal attempt with just over two minutes remaining and the visitors up by five.

The negated touchdown drive forced the Lions to instead concede a regulation loss that dropped the team's record to 8-7 and their playoff odds to just eight percent, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.