The Lions keep forcing themselves to win games twice, and it’s becoming the biggest concern with this 2-1 team
Detroit has already watched two comfortable leads disappear in three weeks, forcing the Lions to close out games a second time after they should have been over.
The Detroit Lions are 2-1, and that matters. But three weeks into the season, the most concerning trend in Detroit has nothing to do with the loss column. The Lions still haven’t figured out how to put a team away when they get the opportunity. Fortunately for them, safety Chuck Clark was able to slam the door on Sunday, forcing a fumble to seal a win over the New York Jets. The problem is Detroit should never have needed that play.
The Lions led the Jets 24-10 early in the fourth quarter. The game should have been approaching the finish line. Instead, Detroit allowed New York to score 14 unanswered points and tie the game. After the offense regained the lead, the defense watched the Jets drive all the way down to the Detroit 28-yard line before Clark finally made his play.
This is becoming a pattern
Go back to Week 1. The Lions led New Orleans 21-7. They had multiple opportunities to end that game, but the offense stalled out and the defense couldn’t get off the field when it mattered. The Saints tied it, and Detroit needed overtime and a 2-point conversion stop to escape with a 31-30 win.
Then it happened again against New York. Detroit went up 24-10 on Jahmyr Gibbs’ second rushing touchdown. The Jets responded to make it 24-16, but the Lions still had an opportunity to regain control. They moved from their own 35 to the Jets’ 45, and the drive just died. Gibbs was stopped on a fourth-and-2 that would have effectively ended the game. It was a strange sequence, too. The Lions gave Vaki some carries, clearly trying to burn clock, and they thought correctly that converting that fourth down with Gibbs would put the game on ice. It didn’t happen.
The Jets took over with a short field, drove 54 yards, and Garrett Wilson scored a touchdown. Geno Smith completed the 2-point conversion. Just like that, a game the Lions led by 14 was tied with a little more than four minutes remaining.
The offense responded, but the game still wasn’t over
To Detroit’s credit, Jared Goff hit Isaac TeSlaa on a 49-yard pass immediately after the Jets tied it. Three plays later, Goff found Gibbs for a touchdown and put Detroit back ahead, 31-24. But even then it wasn’t done. The Jets took possession with 2 minutes and 19 seconds remaining and moved the ball across midfield. Had they not burned a timeout on a Garrett Wilson injury, maybe they would have had enough time to put together a real drive. Then Clark made his play.
It was a great play. It was awesome. But it doesn’t erase the larger concern. The Lions had the Saints in trouble and allowed them to come back. They had the Jets in trouble and allowed them to come back. Detroit keeps forcing itself to close games twice.
What’s the fix?
You can point to a few different things. The Lions offense has had some slow starts, which is just unlike this team. The third quarter used to be the big problem, but now Detroit is scoring in the third quarter, moving the ball, doing things. The issue has shifted to the beginning of games. If the Lions can start getting off to hot starts, they can build leads and keep building them instead of getting hot in the second half and then trying to hold on through a shaky stretch.
Two penalties really killed Detroit in this game. Without those, maybe the Lions are able to close it out. It’s that meaty in-between where things just aren’t working, and they have to figure that out. The Jets are a good team and could be a playoff team, but when Detroit starts playing against some of the better teams on its schedule, those teams aren’t going to let the Lions slide the way New York did.
Props to Detroit for winning. The Lions did what they needed to do and got it done. But this could have been one of those signature losses, and it almost was. The biggest thing they need to fix is learning how to close teams out. They’re almost there. You can see the wheels turning. You can see this team getting better. The defense looked better. The offense has been good. Little changes, and by Week 5, this team could be exactly where you want it to be.
We’ll see where it goes.
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