Welp, the Detroit Lions’ season is pretty much over after their embarrassing and heartbreaking 29-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. There is one final way to get into the playoffs, and it requires a lot to happen, but at this point, it’s probably mock draft season.

Penalties screw the Lions again

The Lions barely had any penalties in this game, and then they all just sort of happened at the worst possible time. Isaac TeSlaa gets one that wiped out a game-winning touchdown, then a false start, and then Amon-Ra St. Brown had one that wiped out another game-winning touchdown.

I don’t even know what to say, and it’s my job to say things. It’s just the worst possible way to end a game, especially after the emotions skyrocketed to happiness and then crashed down to sadness so incredibly fast.

The worst game the Lions have played in a long time, and they still somehow almost won it

I know we say this kind of thing all the time, but seriously, the Lions were atrocious from the word go in this one. The injuries are a legitimate excuse, but not to this extent. The Lions couldn’t make anything happen on offense until it was too late.

They couldn’t get off the field on defense. There were basically no redeeming factors to this game at all. And that’s pretty much it for the 2025 season because of this horrible performance. Somehow, despite all that, they almost won the game, and they had no business doing that.

The one final way into the playoffs

The Lions have to win the next two games and then hope that the Packers lose to the Ravens and the Vikings. That’s it. That is the only way left for this team to make the playoffs. I have to be honest; I don’t see it happening.

Third down is still a killer for the Lions

The Lions’ defense is good on first down. They’re pretty good on second down, too. On third down, they turn into butter, and the hot knife was the Steelers’ offense this week. The Steelers converted 64% of their third-down attempts, and that was the problem for the Lions’ defense on Sunday: they just couldn’t get off the field.

Offensively, the Lions struggled on third down. They converted on just six of their 15 attempts, and that was killer for their offense. They just couldn’t recover from it late in the game when they suddenly started playing well. It was too late by then.

The worst week that Kelvin Sheppard could have possibly stood up for the run defense

On Thursday, Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said, “I can stand on the table behind this – nobody has just lined up and ran the ball down our throats.”

The Lions then allowed 200-plus yards on the ground, which just makes it the worst possible week for a DC to come to the defense of his defense’s run-stopping ability. Now, this will be discussed all week, heading into the Lions’ matchup with the Vikings next week.

Give Kinglsey Eguakun the job moving forward

With Graham Glasgow and Trystan Colon both missing Sunday’s game, the Lions finally gave the only true center on their team, Kingsley Eguakun, a shot, and he nailed it. It won’t get a ton of attention, but he was pretty good. He allowed just one pressure all day, and while the grades are not final until Monday morning, Eguakun had a 78.4 pass-blocking grade.

You would have liked to see a better run-blocking grade, but then again, the whole line had a bad day run-blocking. I’ve seen enough to give him another shot to start this season. Let’s see what happens with Glasgow, though.

Detroit Lions News

Steelers receiver DK Metcalf punches Lions fan at Ford Field

The Steelers’ wide receiver was caught on film during an altercation with a fan at Ford Field.

Mike Payton