Dan Campbell: Jupiter Gambler and Uranus Nerd

Lions head coach Dan Campbell has a reputation for risky play calling, which he demonstrated in two failed fourth down calls in his team’s loss to the 49ers in the NFC championship game on Jan 25. His birthchart has a combination of planets that brings about this tendency for risks. Indeed, his birthchart reveals not just a comfort with high risks, but an a Uranian analytic ability to know when the math favors a fourth down gamble. Still, Campbell lost his gambles. If he had been aware of the astrological aspects involved, he may have called different plays.

A Sun in Aires gives him a daring do. Campbell also has the Moon in Libra conjunct to Pluto and square to Mars in Cancer. A natal Pluto in hard aspects to one’s Moon and one’s Mars breeds someone comfortable with life and death situations. A football coach inevitably is confronted with such a life and death moment when his team’s season is on the line and a play needs to be called. Campbell, intimately familiar with Pluto energy, would never flinch in these moments.

Campbell has Mercury conjunct to Jupiter in the sign of Taurus. Mercury rules common-sense discernments. When Mercury is conjunct to Jupiter, such judgements are blown out of normal proportion. One has a tendency to think big. The placement of these planets in Taurus can also affect one’s judgment. Taurus is the sign of material possessions and ownership. Jupiter in Taurus can make one overly acquisitive, even greedy. Mercury common sense is shouted down by an ebullient Jupiter in Taurus who yells, “Let’s go for it on 4^th down! We will gain another 10 yards and we will keep the ball!”

In addition, Campbell’s Mercury and Jupiter are opposed by Uranus in Scorpio. Uranus brings access to another realm of information. Uranus has brought the advanced analytics to sports which has overtaken the decision processes within baseball. Football is beginning to embrace advance analytics, and the Detroit Lions are among the leaders here. When Campbell is making a fourth down call, he is not listening to his gut. Instead, he is listening the nerds in the Lions office who have done the math. Indeed, some statistical models argue that his fourth down calls against the 49ers were the correct ones.

But if Campbell had consulted an astrologer, he likely would have gotten a different opinion on the likelihood of success. An astrologer would have informed him that the planetary alignments were not conducive to gambling. During the game, Mars and Mercury were conjunct at 18 and 19 Capricorn, which was opposite the midpoint of Campbell’s Mars of 12 Cancer and Saturn of 26 Cancer. These planets were also opposite the Lions natal Sun and Pluto conjunction of 19 Cancer. The Mars-Mercury conjunction was the overriding planetary alignment during the NFC championship game. These planets were in challenging oppositions to the birthcharts of Campbell and the Lions. Still, they did not doom them. Indeed, the Lions thrived under them in the first half. But the energy of Capricorn is conservative. It does not reward brash fourth down calls. An astrologer would have advised a grind-it-out approach. Take the three points of a field goal rather than get greedy and expect a touchdown. Capricorn and Saturn energy are at their strongest at the end of a championship game. By the fourth quarter, Campbell and the Lions were no longer in synch with the transits of the day. An astrologer, not an analytics nerd, could have kept them in synch.