Dan Campbell takes the blame for the Detroit Lions’ Week 2 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Detroit Lions can only blame themselves for their disappointing 20-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2.

Perhaps most notably, an unforced error cost the Lions dearly at the end of the first half.

After Brian Branch intercepted a ball from Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff and the Lions offense recovered the ball at the two-minute warning at the Tampa Bay 45-yard line. Goff & Co. continued to march down the field to the Tampa Bay 9-yard line with 0:17 left in the half. Detroit was then in excellent position for a field goal attempt by Jake Bates.

But just when it looked like the Lions would get on the scoreboard before halftime, something went horribly wrong. Detroit was caught with 17 men on the field when it brought its field goal team onto the field, with Goff smashing the ball on the ground in the field after an 8-yard catch by Amon-Ra St. Brown. The result was a 5-yard penalty for too many men on the field and an automatic 10-second lap, scuttling any chance the Lions had of scoring three extra points before halftime.

Lions boss Dan Campbell took full responsibility for the mistake immediately after the game.

“Their coach cost them the win. Their head coach cost them the win,” Campbell said after the game. “So a critical mistake at the end of the half, and that’s 100 percent on me. We’ve improved, there are areas we need to continue to improve. But that’s not OK.”

It was an exemplary moment of leadership from Detroit’s fourth-year head coach, and a number of his players, including defensive end DJ Reader, praised him for it after the game.

“I think everybody’s mad at themselves. It’s good to hear everybody taking responsibility. You come here and he wears his heart on his sleeve, he tells us how it is. You can respect that,” Reader said of Campbell. “I’m a player in this league, I’ve been here a long time. I’ve heard a lot of speeches like, ‘We just have to do this, we just have to do that.’ That (expletive) goes over your head. At some point you get up there and you pour your heart out, everybody looks you in the eye. We get that. We get it. We all make mistakes, so it’s not like we’re beating him upside the head for it. We can see he cares. That’s why he leads and we follow him.”

As Goff, who threw two interceptions in Week 2, admitted after the game, Campbell’s fumble wasn’t the only reason the Lions lost to Mayfield and the Buccaneers on Sunday. Goff also took blame for the loss and agreed with Reader’s sentiment that Campbell was an admirable leader.

“He’s at the top of the pyramid here, and when the guy at the top takes responsibility, like he has throughout his career and today, it makes it easier for everybody else to take responsibility when they made a mistake,” Goff said. “I know he took responsibility for it, but we had a lot of opportunities to overcome that and make the plays to win the game. And I know he’s going to be hard on himself. But as players, we have to be better. I have to be better, I have to support him, I have to support others and others have to support me. That’s how we win, and unfortunately we couldn’t make up for too many mistakes today.”

Linebacker Derrick Barnes, who finished with five total tackles and one pass defense, agreed with Goff that the loss should not be blamed on Campbell. He and his Lions teammates, Goff said, did not make enough plays to win the game.

“No, it’s not him,” Barnes said of the Week 2 loss. “We’re the players, we go out there and play the game. We can put up all kinds of X’s and O’s, but at the end of the day, it’s the players that go out there and do it. He goes with his gut, and that’s why I really respect him as a head coach. Whatever he believes, we’re going to believe it. We’re confident in that, whatever he wants to do, we’re going to do it. We’re never going to blame him for any play, not at all.

“When he said that, it kind of hurt me because he shouldn’t take the blame for it. He thought it was the best thing for the team and I don’t even know if the scenario didn’t turn out the way it should have. But no, you can never let a head coach take the blame for that. We’re players, we have to go out there and make something happen.”