It was just a really bad night for the Detroit Lions’ offense. There’s no other way to put it. They couldn’t get anything going. The play-calling was bad, and conversions were pretty much non-existent. It cost the Lions a 16-9 loss on a night where their defense played an outstanding game. The loss also drops the Lions out of the playoffs.

Goff Report

What we won’t do is talk about how Jared Goff is bad and how the Lions can’t succeed with him. I just won’t get in on that ridiculousness. What I will say is this was not a good game from him, and he got no help from his receivers or his offensive line.

The Eagles were in his face all night. He got hit after pretty much every throw, and when he did make throws, they went through guys’ hands, or his receivers were just blanketed in coverage. It’s easy to point the finger at the quarterback, but all 11 guys on the offense played the worst game we’ve seen from them in a long time.

If there were ever a game to put the aggressiveness aside, it was this one

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of the aggressive nature in which the Lions play, but this one felt like it didn’t need it. The fake punt in the first half turned out to be a big issue. It allowed the Eagles to start another drive in the Lions’ territory.

While they were held to a field goal, every point counts in games like this. The Lions’ defense played a great game. You could have punted and pinned them back, forcing them to try to cover the whole field. It just felt unnecessary, and the Eagles knew it was coming. They left their defense on the field.

The Lions struggled mightily trying to convert on fourth down in this game, and personally, it’s because the Lions kept trying to dial up a home run on short-yardage situations instead of simply trying to throw something underneath to Brock Wright or something like that. Just enough to get the yardage and reset the downs. It’s just being overly aggressive and kept biting them.

Reach for a storyline

There wasn’t a person alive who didn’t know the wind was blowing like crazy in this game. Jake Bates and Jake Elliott were missing kicks left and right in pre-game. That’s why it’s dumb to blame Jameson Williams for Bates missing the PAT in the second quarter.

Yeah, the penalty is dumb, and he shouldn’t do stuff like that, but to act like he was the sole reason that miss happened and then to dog him for “immaturity issues” despite the growth he’s shown just felt like a reach for a storyline for the game.

Make no mistake about it, the Lions have one of the best defenses in the league right now

Going into this game, we talked about how the Lions’ defense needed to make sure that they could get the Eagles’ offense in situations where they would have to convert on third-and-long, which would be crucial for them to keep the Eagles away from their offensive strategy.

The Lions did well with this in the first half, putting the Eagles in this position seven times and only allowing them to convert twice. In the second half, they got it one time, but they were outstanding with stopping three tush pushes.

The Lions didn’t have a great night on third down, either. Or fourth down, for that matter

The Lions started moving the ball on offense, but then they’d just keep hitting the wall on third down and fourth down. They didn’t convert on third down until the third quarter.

By then, they were 0-5 already. All told, the Lions went 3-13 on third down and 0-5 on fourth down. We all knew the Eagles were good, so this isn’t the biggest surprise, but man, the Lions have to do better going forward.

Return issues

The Eagles were absolutely on top of the Lions’ returns on both punts and kicks. They knew exactly what the Lions wanted to do all night long, and they stopped it. With that, the Lions struggled with starting field position all night, except for when they got a face mask call that went their way and got to start on their own 35.

Other than that, it was Kalif Raymond catching a ball and immediately getting hit all night. The Lions’ special teams unit has been off for a few weeks now. This has typically been a strength for them.

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