Detroit Lions Are Not Set Up to Make, Succeed in Playoffs

The Detroit Lions, in their present injury-decimated state, proved Sunday they're not only inferior to the L.A. Rams, but that they're also not good enough to be a playoff team for a third consecutive season.

The Lions, which didn't punt a single time in the first two quarters, matched Los Angeles point for point in the first half. They put up 261 yards and outscored the Rams, 24-17, in the opening half of play, while also forcing Matthew Stafford to toss just his fifth interception of the season.

It was an exciting, well-played half from Dan Campbell's squad, and one which instilled confidence in the Detroit fanbase. Yet, fatigue set in for the undermanned Lions in the second half, and L.A. receivers Davante Adams and Puka Nacua took full advantage.

The Rams, spearheaded by the dynamic receiving tandem, outscored Detroit, 17-0, and outgained Jared Goff & Co. a staggering 179-to-negative seven in the third quarter.

Yes, you read that right: Detroit's high-powered offensive attack, which couldn't be stopped through the first two quarters, didn't muster a single positive yard in the third quarter. It was a quarter from hell for Campbell's team, and it cost the Lions dearly in the Week 15 affair.

Stafford & Co. ended up outscoring Detroit, 24-10, in the final half of play. And all afternoon long, Kelvin Sheppard's defense had no answer for Nacua and Adams, who combined for 252 receiving yards. Nacua consistently thrashed Detroit's defensive backs, leading all receivers on the day with 181 yards while averaging 20.1 yards per catch.

In the end, Detroit permitted 519 total yards of offense on the afternoon, including 7.5 yards per play. It also never got its ground game going. It produced just 70 total rushing yards, including an inefficient 3.5 yards per carry, paling in comparison to L.A.’s 159 total yards on the ground and 5.5 yards per rush attempt.

The aforementioned defensive showing and performance on the ground are hardly a recipe for success, let alone against the NFC's No. 1 seed and arguably the very best team in the NFL at the present moment.

Sure, the Lions still had their big moments and plays, including Aidan Hutchinson's interception of Stafford (a near pick-six) and Amon-Ra St. Brown's dominant, two-touchdown first half. Additionally, Jameson Williams, St. Brown's receiving counterpart, used his game-changing speed to beat the Rams’ secondary for a 31-yard touchdown grab in the final minute of the first half.

The effort from Detroit Sunday wasn't consistent enough, though. In the process, the Campbell-led team proved it couldn't sustain a winning brand of football for all four quarters.

Still, the never-say-never Lions head coach believes his team has what it takes to close the season strong.

“I don't believe for one second anybody's lost confidence,” Campbell expressed in the postgame. “We just know. We're doing a good job of taking care of the ball, we're getting some takeaways, we need to get a couple more and we've got to play for (four) quarters, man.”

Goff echoed a similar sentiment about the state of the team after its setback against the Rams.

“We're resilient. We really are. I expect us to bounce back from this, and we still have plenty of stuff in front of us. We do," Goff said. "And we've got a great group that can win a championship here, and we know that. We just have to stick together and not allow some of the narratives to pull anything apart, and our captains need to step up. Our leaders need to step up and be vocal and have energy, and (it's) not anything that I don't expect us to do.”

Campbell and Goff both can certainly talk the talk, and they said all the right things after the loss.

However, this version of the Lions isn't as formidable as the one that took the field the past two seasons. This current iteration of Campbell's squad is lacking in a variety of areas – coaching-wise and on both offense and defense – and is ill-equipped to compete with and beat the NFL's upper-echelon organizations.

Because of such, if Detroit still manages to find a way to make the playoffs, it's hardly in position to make a deep run. It possesses all the ingredients of a team bound to get bounced in the first round. And that would inevitably be a bitter pill to swallow for a Detroit fanbase starving for a Super Bowl appearance.

Lions fans, it's time to accept a harsh reality: This Detroit team is not making franchise history and hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at season's end.

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