are we on the upswing

Really how about Denver, and Chicago, both who if they took the field goals given to them instead of keep going for it on 4th down could have won their playoff games.

 

And yet Campbell, and Lions not only got beat by the Steelers last year, they didn't even make the playoffs. You can't win, or lose a playoff game if You don't make it

 

Chicago score 2 TD on fourth down against the rams.The rams had also a key 4th down conversion on their last TD in that game.Sometimes some don't want to remember the key fourth down they convert and the reward is so big...For Denver,maybe it would been better if they would been more often on fourth down,since their kicker was awful in that game

 

And sometimes people don't want to remember the missed 4th downs that could have been points. Don't believe me go, and watch the game again

 

Always need to look at both...The points you win when you make convert on fourth down and the points you lose when you don't convert on fourth down.And this is always the right decision to go on fourth down and short in the middle of the field(out of the field goal range)since you gain nothing to punt

One of the big reason why the steelers had been much better in the last month(4-1 after being 6-6 before)was because Tomlin was more aggressive on fourth down.The tush push with Heyward was automatic and they score over 25 points in 4 of their wins

 

Whatever you say, we all watched two teams lose in the playoff last year because they couldn't stop going for it on 4th down.

 

Again,the bears score 2 TD on fourth down in that game and the broncos kicker miss 2 FGs

 

Nice stats . Watch the game again

 

I can't compare other teams because I didn't follow their philosophies. What I do know is that PIT hasn't gotten many takeaways in the postseason. And the few times they did the offense did little with them (ref. vs HOU).
Your 4th down comments bring up a good question. The analytics overwhelmingly say go for it on 4th down but I wonder if that changes by only looking at postseason games and not all NFL games. Players always talk about the postseason as a whole other level of football.

 

And the Lions fans were starting to get tired of Campbell always going for it on fourth downs, there was a bunch of coaches making dumb decisions in the playoffs last year by going for it on fourth down.

 

Campbell and the Lions had their ticket punched for the Superbowl a few years ago except he bypassed 2 FG's and went for it on fourth down and failed both times. The first time a FG would have put them up 3 scores and pretty much ended the game. Instead after the failed fourth down the 49ers marched down the field to pull within 7 points and completely took over the games momentum.

 

Why do you think that the steelers score over 25 points in 4 of the final 5 regular season game in 2025?....Because Tomlin has been on fourth down way more often(The steelers had 11 fourth down attempts in the last 5 games vs only 12 in the first 12 games and they were 6-6).The steelers were 7-11 in those fourth down(0-3 in Cleveland but 2 of those was at the end of the game when they had no choice and 7-8 in the fourth other games,4 wins)

Not a coincidence, the steelers have been better in the last month... I'm not talking about going fourth down and medium, but when it's fourth down and short and you're good at it, like the steelers were great last year with the tush push, no reason not to go for it!

Nothing frustrates me more than punting on fourth down and short in midfield in a tie game when your defense is mediocre,like the seahawks game in week 2,when Tomlin had decided to punt in a 14-14 game in this situation and the next time the steelers had the ball,they were down 24-14

 

It would not matter,the lions defense could not stop the 49ers offense in the final 4 drives....3 TD and 1 FG for the 49ers offense in those drives....And the lions had also a practice squad caliber kicker in that game and it was from 48 yards.The chance was better to the lions to convert on fourth down and 2 that a practice squad kicker make a long FG...The 49ers kicker had missed a FG from that distance too in that game

And if Cambell would never agressive on fourth down,they would not beat the rams in the wild card round in that year

 

For the season, they were better than a coin flip on 4th downs. Wonder how many games they won in the regular season because of it? I think Campbell said something like 'we aren't going to change how we got here [postseason]'. But I think playoffs need a whole other level of scrutiny on analytics.

 

Well his chance of making those fourth conversions was zero percent because they didn't make either one of them. The Lions lost by 3 points in a game they bypassed 2 FG's.

 

what they were bad at doing during MT's years was not getting the 1st down on 3rd and short, instead they would go deep trying to fool the other team. that always drove me crazy.

 

They were not at 0% before the decision....Not because it don't work that the decision was illogic...

If you are in the mentality that every decision who don't work is bad,this is fine. You need to be consistent with that too

 

And when they failed on 4th and goal against the Vikings that let them get back into the game .

 

Score a TD and the game would been over....A FG,the steelers would been only up by 13 points,so the vikings would win this game with 2 TD...The biggest problem was,the run play on fourth down at the 4 yards line and gave up a 80 yards play after that

 

You can't argue with some people that think its a Madden video game. We have all watched teams lose in the playoff, and commented on it in the game day thread, and all they had to do was take the field goals when they were presented.

 

Jets , Panthers, Cowboys, Giants, and Titans all lead the league in going for it on fourth down. Hmmm
Not teams I would want to follow in their paths, hey but that's just me

 

Actually that is a very good play “on occasion “

How often are you thinking they did this

 

I dunno, one year Ben seemed to do it near every 3rd and short.

 

Newsflash: The other team are pros too scoring a TD isn't a guarantee that's why they should've kicked the FG .

 

I mean,the win was in the bag earlier if they don't have a stupid blown coverage at the end on defense.It would not matter if they score a TD on fourth down to be up by 17 points....This blown coverage would matter if they would kick the FG and being up 27-14

Btw,the worst decision ever by Cowher was to kick a short FG at the 2 yards line in the 2004 AFC title game down by 14 points in the fourth quarter