The Lions were upset by the Commanders on Saturday night in the Divisional Round, losing 45-31. There were plenty of losers as the season is over for Detroit.
This was not how the season was supposed to end. The Detroit Lions set a franchise-record 15 wins and earned the number one seed in the NFL playoffs—all for it to just end in the first postseason game. The Washington Commanders came in after upsetting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and played spoiler as a 9.5-point underdog, defeating the Detroit Lions 45-31.
Commanders quarterback, and soon-to-be NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, Jayden Daniels entered Ford Field and played like a veteran. Daniels put up 299 passing yards and two touchdowns and added 52 yards on the ground. While the Lions defense was struggling, the offense didn’t do its best either, as the team had five turnovers.
Check out my winner and losers in the loss.
Winner
Jahmyr Gibbs
While the passing game struggled, the ground attack worked well against this Commanders defense. Gibbs had 14 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Despite running back David Montgomery returning from a knee injury, Gibbs was the feature back for the Lions.
Jahmyr Gibbs is literally a walking touchdown pic.twitter.com/Do0ieB1PxS
— The Morning After (@Bookit_TMA) January 19, 2025
Gibbs continued to be a threat wherever he was on the field. If you needed a big play on the ground, Gibbs did that. If you needed a short completion, Gibbs did that too. He had six catches for 71 yards, as he has grown into one of Goff’s favorite safety valves.
Losers
Secondary
Regarding the Lions defense, the secondary had the roughest go at it. It started rough when starting cornerback Amik Robertson went down with an injury in the first quarter and was ruled out for the rest of the game. With him out, Kindle Vildor stepped into his role and while he did have a nice pass breakup on third down, that was about the best highlight the secondary had the whole game. Rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold struggled in coverage, and the safeties couldn’t match up against the tight ends or help over the top.
Wide receiver Dyami Brown led the Commanders for the receivers, getting six catches for 98 yards. Star receiver Terry McLaurin had a big 58-yard touchdown play on a screen pass that the Lions defended horribly. Big plays were happening for the Commanders through the air, and the Lions couldn’t figure out how to stop it.
With the defense’s pass rush struggling, it gave Daniels too much time to throw and that was hell for the secondary. Sure, it’s not on them to generate pressure on the quarterback too, but even when there was some pressure, they couldn’t hold their own. There was also a penalty for too many men on the field after a miscommunication in the secondary.
Jared Goff
You’d think quarterback Jared Goff would rebound well after having one of the worst performances of the season in Week 18 against the Minnesota Vikings. With the extra rest, it seemed to have possibly made life a little more rough for the quarterback. Goff fumbled on the third drive of the game, when the Lions were threatening to add to their 7-3 lead. After trading touchdowns, Goff threw a horrible ball that was too high for wide receiver Tim Patrick and it was pick-sixed by Washington to make it 24-14 Washington.
On the last drive before halftime, with the Lions down 31-21, Goff threw an interception in the end zone as Commanders rookie cornerback Mike Sainristil stepped in front of Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams. In the fourth quarter with less than a minute to go, down by 14, Goff threw the final interception of the night, ending the season for the Lions
Goff finished the game going 23-for-40 for 313 yards with a touchdown, fumble, and three interceptions. Goff was having an MVP-level season early on, but this game showed that he wasn’t at that level.
Kickoff returns
The Commanders are known to kick the ball short on kickoffs, meaning the Lions had to prepare to return these kicks and not get touchbacks. Running back Craig Reynolds returned four kicks for 93 yards, and wide receiver Kalif Raymond had a return for 21 yards.
Reynolds averaged just 23 yards a return. Once, Raymond returned the ball from inside the end zone, which was not smart as he was tackled at the 19, giving Detroit a long field late in the fourth quarter.
Coaching decisions
The coaching staff struggled in this game mightily. First, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who has had a great season and is a head coaching candidate, made a horrible decision to run a trick pass play with the team down by 10 in the second half. The play was the pass thrown by Jameson Williams that was picked off. Sure, Williams should have thrown the ball away or just ran, but Johnson shouldn’t have called that play to begin with. You are down by 10 in a playoff game, that play wasn’t going to do anything massive for you. It’s fun to run trick plays, but down by 10 with a risky play like that is just asinine.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn had a horrible game coaching too. He struggled to stop RPO screen plays that were easy to tell were coming. He had players blitzing when they should have been going up against the receivers blocking, and instead it’s an easy advantage for Washington.
The coaching staff also are to blame for having 12 players on the defense and not calling a timeout to fix it. In that situation, losing by 10 in the second half, I understand you don’t want to waste your timeouts. Instead of losing a timeout, which could have turned into a stop on fourth down, it turns into a touchdown.
With the players not at their best, it was up to the coaches to help them fix their mistakes, but they just compounded the problems. If this is the last time Glenn and Johnson are in Detroit, they left a bad taste in the mouth of the city and the fans.
