Football aficionados, and advanced life forms like The Upshot’s 4th Down Bot, endlessly marvel at N.F.L. coaches who order punts on fourth-and-short. Possession of the ball is far more important to victory than field position. Fourth-and-short tries are about 60 percent likely to succeed in maintaining possession. Yet coaches order punts, essentially awarding the opponent a turnover.

Image Get the latest Tweets from @NYT4thDownBot . Live analysis of every N.F.L. fourth down decision.

It’s not that coaches don’t know the math — rather, it seems they don’t want to be criticized. If a coach does the expected and sends out the punt unit on fourth down, and then his team goes on to lose, players are blamed for the defeat. If the coach orders a conversion attempt that fails, the coach is blamed for subsequent defeat.

What surer barometer of this psychology than network announcers?

Trailing, 20-0, late in the third quarter at Seattle, the Bears reached fourth-and-inches at midfield. Chicago Coach John Fox faced this option: try for a first down or concede the game. When the punt team trotted out, the CBS booth denizen Phil Simms said: “I agree with the decision. I think I would punt it here and just go ahead and see if your defense can make a play.” In other words, shift blame to the players, in this case the defenders.