He opted to punt, a decision the Surrender Index rated as pretty jittery, saying, “this punt ranks at the 99.2nd percentile of cowardly punts of the 2023 season, and the 98th percentile of all punts since 1999.”

The Lions took over at their 13 and coach Dan Campbell put both the game and his trust in Goff’s hands, calling for a pair of passes that netted first downs.

Because McVay didn’t use his final timeout until after the two-minute warning, Goff needed only to take three knees in victory formation to send Ford Field into a frenzy.

“Still having a timeout and four minutes, the way our defense was playing, we were hoping to get a stop,” McVay explained. “Hindsight is 20/20. Certainly regret that decision now.”

The 80-year-old Hall of Fame coach gave an impassioned pep talk on Fox’s halftime show that made 52-year-old Hall of Fame defensive end Michael Strahan and 34-year-old retired tight end Rob Gronkowski want to ditch their designer duds and dust off their old shoulder pads.

With the second-seeded Cowboys stunningly trailing seventh-seeded Green Bay by three touchdowns, a fired-up Johnson was asked what message he would have for his old team after its awful start.

Johnson stared into the camera and right into the souls of millions of viewers, then let loose like he used to when he was leading America’s Team to back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the 1990s before his famous split with team owner Jerry Jones.

“You get your rear end in there and you play the way you know how to play!” Johnson scowled. “We can win the game. We’re gonna open it up, we’re going to go fast tempo. Defense, get after Jordan Love! You can’t give him that much time. You do what you’re supposed to do, we’ll win this game!”