The New York Giants had that game against the Detroit Lions practically wrapped up until Mike Kafka decided to trust his gut a little too much. In just his second game as interim head coach, Kafka rolled the dice on a late fourth-and-goal call, skipped the easy field goal, and came up empty.

That decision cracked the door open, the Lions stormed through for a 34–27 win, and even Donald Trump jumped in to blast the playcalling. Now, days later, Kafka is finally clearing the air on what went into that moment and why he stuck with the aggressive approach.

“This is one of the coolest things,” Kafka said on Wednesday. “Just for me, being in this position, you get the opportunity to make tough calls like and that’s for me, that’s awesome. I love it. You get it down the wire, two minutes, end of game, when you gotta make a tough call, to me, I feel like that’s a huge responsibility and something I enjoy doing. Like, being that person to do that. So, everyone’s gonna have an opinion. That’s okay. I’m gonna do the best I can for myself, for the team, first, if that give us an opportunity to win the game.”

It all went down late in the fourth quarter with just 3:07 minutes remaining in the game. The Giants were winning 27-24 and had driven all the way down the field and near the end zone, trying to score again. On third-and-goal from the 2-yard line, the Giants tried a running play, a sweep to Devin Singletary. But the Lions read it perfectly, blew up the play in the backfield, and tackled Singletary for a 4-yard loss.

Now, it was fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line, and Detroit called a timeout. At this point, Mika Kafka had a couple of choices: Either kick a short field goal to go up 30-24 and force the Lions to score a touchdown, or be aggressive. Kafka decided to be aggressive as he went for fourth-and-goal.

The interim HC called a pass play. Jameis Winston threw a pass to tight end Theo Johnson. But it was incomplete, and the Giants turned the ball over on downs. The result? Detroit capitalized on it and moved the ball 53 yards in 13 plays, forcing the clock to run and tiring out the defense. Eventually, they kicked a 59-yard field goal to tie the game 27–27. And let’s just say that decision from Mike Kafka didn’t sit well with Donald Trump.

Donald Trump finds Mike Kafka’s decision weird and crazy

President Trump didn’t waste much time calling out the Giants’ decision to go for a fourth-and-goal rather than taking a six-point lead in the fourth quarter. He wrote:

“Why did the New York Football Giants (NFL) not kick that Field Goal??? Who would have done such a thing? It was CRAZY! I got to watch the end of the game and thought, when they went for the touchdown instead of the 3, ‘That’s Weird!!!'”

Kafka could have gone for the field goal; there’s no denying that. But it’s clear the interim HC didn’t trust Shane Bowen’s defense. After all, the Giants had collapsed in such scenarios four times this season already. However, that didn’t change the fact that the Giants blew a lead and lost the game in overtime.

After tying the game 27-27, the Lions’ running back Jahmyr Gibbs exploded for a 69-yard touchdown run on the very first play. Just like that, Detroit led 34-27. The Giants got one more opportunity with the ball, but Kafka’s offense couldn’t score and turned it over on downs. The result? Detroit won the game.

And right after that went down, fans, analysts, and even high-profile figures like President Trump called out Kafka for not going for a field goal. That said, the Giants are now 2–10, out of the playoff conversation, and staring at a long evaluation stretch. Up next is the New England Patriots in Week 13, and while the standings won’t change much, the pressure on Kafka certainly will.