Tl;dr - people calling Butch a coward are right.
"Most coaches either punt or attempt a field goal, if theyre in range. Rarely ever do they go for it on fourth down. But the NYT 4th Down Bot says thats a mistake. The bot uses thousands of N.F.L. plays since 2000 to calculate the average number of points each situation is worth. So the bot figures out the potential payoff for each situation, evaluating the risk versus reward for a teams decision. The payoff is based on expected points, which assigns a single point value to any game situation, based on how likely a team is to score from that field position. And what the NYT 4th Down Bot found was that coaches overrated the risk for situations and underrated the rewards. In other words: theyre cowards."
From
Should Football Teams Go For it On 4th Down? This Chart Tells You - Mic