The Detroit Lions might be in trouble. Not only are they now officially eliminated, but the future is bleak. Jared Goff isn’t getting any younger, and the first year after losing both Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn went pretty poorly. It’s not an ideal situation for a team that had been so good for several seasons.
Detroit Lions eliminated after ugly loss
The Detroit Lions are officially eliminated from the NFL playoffs after falling to 8-8. They faced an uphill battle anyway, but now their season is officially over. As a result, the division rival Green Bay Packers clinched a spot without having to play.
It was a really ugly outing for the Lions. The Minnesota Vikings have a bad offense and were starting an undrafted free agent at quarterback. Yet, it was the Lions who looked totally out of synch and got the worst QB performance of the day.
Despite boasting incredible playmakers like Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and David Montgomery, the Lions struggled. It doesn’t help that St. Brown left with an injury, but the game was getting close to over by that point.
Goff had five turnovers and was sacked five times. He was off the entire night, even fumbling snaps and botching handoffs. Brian Flores’ defense gave him fits, and the loaded Lions offense could only muster up 10 points the entire night.
The Lions entered the season with the fifth-highest odds of making the playoffs and had a 67% chance. Unfortunately, losing both coordinators proved to be too much, as they’re out and will need a win just to finish over .500.
There was some complaint that the Lions would miss the playoffs in favor of whoever the NFC South sends. However, the Lions will now have to try and win to finish better than the NFC South winner, whoever that may be.
Lions comment on elimination
Jared Goff opened up on the loss and the subsequent elimination. “It sucks,” Goff said via ESPN. “We’ll reflect on the whole season after next week, but yeah, it sucks.” The Lions had been a perennial NFC power for a few seasons, but everything came crashing down this year.
“They did a good job on defense. (The defense) had a good plan and exploited some things on us,” added Goff. “They were able to get after us, adding an extra rusher a lot of times.” The QB went 18/29 with 197 passing yards and a touchdown while facing a ton of pressure.
Dan Campbell’s first year without Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn wasn’t quite a disaster, but it went pretty poorly. “I’m going to be looking at a lot. I’m going to be looking at a lot of things because I do not like being home for the playoffs,” Campbell said. “And I know our guys don’t either. And there again, whenever you lose, it takes a village. Everybody’s involved, including myself. So, I’m always going to look at myself first.”
“(Lions general manager) Brad (Holmes) and I will have a lot of decisions to make. A lot of things to look at,” Campbell added. “The whats, the whys, the how do we need to improve. Cause we need to improve… I know this: It doesn’t take much for things to get off-balance. Not as much as you would think.”
To Campbell’s credit, the Lions still have a +65 point differential. No matter what happens, that’ll be better than the NFC South’s eventual champion, and it’s better than both AFC North teams still alive right now.
And losing coordinators doesn’t always derail a team, so Campbell is right that it usually doesn’t take much. Plus, the Lions lost a few heartbreakers, including last week on a very curious call about the final play, that would’ve totally changed things.
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