Lions vs. Commanders live score updates, highlights, drive analysis

We’re providing live score updates, highlights, and drive-by-drive analysis for the Detroit Lions’ Divisional Round matchup against the Washington Commanders.

A spot in the NFC Championship is on the line Saturday night as the Detroit Lions host the Washington Commanders in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. If the Lions win, they’ll host next week’s NFC Championship game. If the Commanders walk away with their second road playoff victory, they’ll travel one more time to either Los Angeles or Philadelphia for a date with the Rams or Eagles.

For the Lions, this is right where they expected to be. After getting bounced in the NFC Championship Game last year, the motto inside the building was “It Takes More,” noting that getting back to even that game is going to be tougher this year around. If it was harder, the Lions haven’t shown it so far. They’ve improved from last year’s 12-5 record to 15-2, although it was a battle to eventually win the NFC North in Week 18. Now, with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, the Lions can’t afford a let-down game against the Commanders.

As for the Commanders, they decidedly weren’t supposed to be here. With a first-year head coach and a rookie quarterback, people understandably expected this to be a building year. Instead, Jayden Daniels has played spectacularly, often pulling out wins in the final seconds of Washington’s games—including last week’s Wild Card win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

We’ll be live blogging the Divisional Round game between the Lions and Commanders right here on this page. When the game kicks off around 8 p.m. ET on FOX, simply head to this page, refresh, and updates with drive analysis, the latest scores and highlights will appear below.

Enjoy the game and see you at 8 p.m. ET.

First quarter

The Commanders won the toss, giving the ball to the Lions offense first. The opening kickoff went out of bounds, giving Detroit great field position to start. But the Lions wasted the opportunity. After two David Montgomery rushes lost a total of 13 yards, Jared Goff couldn’t connect with Tim Patrick and it was a quick three-and-out for the Lions offense.

The Lions almost immediately lost cornerback Amik Robertson, who suffered a friendly fire shot and had to be escorted to the locker room, training holding his arm in place as they walked off the field. Meanwhile, the Commanders dinked and dunked their way down the field with four straight passes to open the game. Eventually the Commanders got backed into a third-and-14, and Washington worked their way into a fourth-and-1 from there. Washington tried a trick play from there with Marcus Mariota taking the snap under center, but he was immediately stuffed for the turnover on downs.

The Lions offense suddenly exploded on the ensuing drive. Jared Goff hit Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs for 19 and 23 yard gains, respectively. Gibbs added another 24 yards on the ground all the way down into the red zone. Then Gibbs capped it off with a 1-yard touchdown run and an early 7-0 Lions lead.

The Commanders answered, though. On third-and-10, Jayden Daniels found Jamison Crowder for 12 yards into Lions territory. Then, on another third-and-10, Kindle Vildor knocked away a pass intended for Olamide Zaccheaus. Zane Gonzalez would end up converting a 47-yard field goal to make it 7-3 Lions with just under four minutes left in the first quarter.

The Lions went right back to work on the backs of Gibbs. The Lions running back made a couple of nasty cuts en route to a 33-yard run.

But on a third-and-1, Goff was sacked and fumbled the ball, with Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu recovering.

Washington’s offense would take over and move toward midfield as the clock turned over to the second quarter.

Second quarter

Daniels opened up the quarter with a 42-yard strike to Dyami Brown all the way down to Detroit’s 16-yard line.

The Lions got a red zone stand, forcing a fourth-and-3 for the Commanders, but Washington opted to go for it and this time, they converted with a 7-yard pass to Zach Ertz. Detroit nearly got another goal line stop, but a pass interference call on third down gave the Commanders a free set of a downs from the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Brian Robinson plunged it in from 2 yards out for a 10-7 Commanders lead.