The big, bad Detroit Lions should be poised to make a deep run this postseason.
Maybe do something unlike the Lions and make it to the Super Bowl.
But faster than Barry Sanders outrunning all 11 defenders on the football field, top-seeded Detroit was sent tumbling out of the playoffs by the top-seeded Washington Rangers on Saturday.
Washington’s 45-31 victory included a tight ball with quarterback Jayden Daniels running the game. Meanwhile, the Lions coughed up the ball five times—three interceptions and a lost fumble by Jared Goff and an interception by wide receiver Jameson Williams.
That franchise-best 15-2 record doesn’t feel so good after this big collapse.
This is the kind of setback that will go into the Lions’ lore and will be magnified over time if Detroit doesn’t reach the Super Bowl this time around.
We’ve all seen a lot of bad Lions losses because every year they’re televised on Thanksgiving Day, and so many of their teams have been bad.
Take the 23-0 home loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Thanksgiving Day 1988. Detroit was held to 60 yards, had three first downs and had the ball for just 15:03 in a dramatic display of offensive failure behind middle quarterbacks Chuck Long and Rusty Hilger.
Now sure, Goff doesn’t belong with those two guys, but he picked a very bad day to be a money making machine.
Lions coach, Dan Campbell, said he was not prepared for this team, and let’s just say this: He sure isn’t lying.
Detroit was sacked and sacked. Even though Jahmyr Gibbs bested Sanders with 175 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns, the Commanders controlled much of the afternoon.
One glaring gaffe came when Washington, leading by three points, decided to go for fourth down from the Lions’ yard line early in the fourth quarter.
Detroit was in disarray, and the players were moving all over the place, unable to figure out where to line up. Fox’s Tom Brady repeatedly called for a timeout.
There was a big reason for that. The Lions had 12 men on the field. You can read them on your TV.
They were penalized, and that gave the Commanders a first and second goal from the 2. They scored a touchdown two plays later.
Campbell said that was his fault—yes, the lack of time was in the mill.
After Detroit’s season finale against the Minnesota Vikings, Campbell said, “I’ll see you in two weeks,” to Minnesota coach Kevin O’Connell during a postgame handshake.
However, Campbell and O’Connell have plenty of time to spend with their teams that have had little success in the postseason.
On the other side of the field, Daniels was playing flawlessly like a veteran instead of a guy playing in his second postseason game.
And suddenly, Washington will be playing in the NFC Championship Game for the first time since the 1991 season – when the club won the Super Bowl.
Washington will be facing either the Philadelphia Eagles or the Los Angeles Rams. The Commandos split two games with the Eagles this season and did not play the Rams.
In the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs are headed to the conference championship game for the seventh consecutive season after recording a 23-14 victory over the visiting Houston Texans.
Travis Kelce showed up after I was sure he had left to be a bouncer at Taylor Swift concerts. He had seven receptions for 117 yards and one touchdown.
If this version of Kelce holds up, the Chiefs have a legitimate chance to score their third consecutive Super Bowl record.
Patrick Mahomes had just 60 more passing yards on a day when his taunt overshadowed his arm. His late slide in which two Texans took each other’s tackles somehow resulted in a penalty. At one point, Mahomes paled when he was lightly pushed to the side. That makes you a technical foul in the NBA.
The Texans were upset about some of the penalties that were called—with good reason—but there really wasn’t a point in this game where it felt like Houston could win the contest.
That makes for two straight 10-win seasons and a two-game losing streak for the Texans by quarterback CJ Stroud. It’s not bad.