After avoiding them all season, the Detroit Lions had their biggest let-down game at the worst possible time. Let’s dive into their season-ending, 45-31 loss to the Washington Commanders with our final report card of the season.
Quarterback: D
Jared Goff’s recklessness with the football is a huge reason they lost the game. Whether it was his carelessness on the early third-and-1 fumble that prevented Detroit from building a two score lead or the couple of tight-window throws he forced that were picked off, Goff’s four turnovers were death blows to the Lions’ season.
What’s most frustrating about his performance, is that he was perfectly fine—if not great—outside of those turnover plays. Detroit moved the ball with relative ease all evening, but Goff’s mistakes erased several opportunities for Detroit to either extend their lead or draw closer.
Running backs: A+
What a phenomenal end to the season for Jahmyr Gibbs. It’s fair to wonder if he’s established himself as a top three back in the league after this final stretch. Against the Commanders, Gibbs produced 175 scrimmage yards on just 20 touches. Combine this game with the last three of the regular season, and Gibbs produced 662 yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns. He’s one reason to be very excited for the future.
David Montgomery wasn’t quite as electric in his return, but even he seemed to pick up some steam as the game went on.
Tight ends: A-
Sam LaPorta’s one-handed touchdown catch may have been the biggest jaw-dropping moment in a night filled with them. He finished the day with six catches for 51 yards. He finished the season with 50 yards in five of his last six games after doing so just three times the rest of the season. Like Gibbs, he was another guy who was trending in the right direction at the right time.
Wide receivers: B
Jameson Williams has to get dinged in this section for his ill-advised pass when he should have just tucked it and ran. The play wasn’t there, and it was first-and-10—you have to live to see another down. It doesn’t matter how infrequently you get opportunities like that. You have to be smart there.
That said, Williams did provide an electric 61-yard rushing touchdown, Amon-Ra St. Brown was his typical reliable self, hauling in eight catches for 137 yards, and Kalif Raymond even had a couple of big plays.
Offensive line: A-
The Commanders were credited with seven quarterback hits, which is a bit higher than it felt—but one of their two sacks resulted in a turnover, after Graham Glasgow blew his block.
Still, it felt like Goff mostly had ample time all game, and the rushing lanes were there for most of the game. The Lions finished with 201 rushing yards and 8.7 yards per carry—both season highs for Detroit. Another positive development moving forward: the Lions may have a young starter in Christian Mahogany.
Defensive line: F
Detroit logged just two quarterback hits all game, and the defensive line was responsible for just a single tackle for loss via Al-Quadin Muhammad. I’m trying to rack my brain of any impact play a defensive lineman made, and the only thing I can think of was a pass batted down by Za’Darius Smith.
The Lions defensive front not only struggled to generate pressure, but the Commanders were able to establish a successful running game right up the gut. Take Jayden Daniels’ rushing attempts out of the box score, and Washington still had 131 rushing yards on 26 carries—or a 5.04 YPC average.
Linebackers: C
Alex Anzalone and Jack Campbell combined for 27 tackles and two tackles for loss. They tried valiantly to keep Daniels in check on the ground, and for the most part, they succeeded. Daniels averaged just 3.2 YPC on 16 carries (51 yards total)—well under his typical efficiency marks. But when it came to coverage, Daniels had pretty much anything he wanted. Washington’s misdirection had Detroit’s second level of their defense’s head spinning.
Secondary: D
Detroit got a nice pass breakup from Kindle Vildor, and Brian Branch had a pair of tackles for loss and a forced fumble. But the rest of the crew couldn’t make the plays they needed. Losing Amik Robertson on the second defensive snap didn’t help, and things really went off the rails when Branch and Ifeatu Melifonwu left late in the game—forcing Morice Norris and Stantley Thomas-Oliver in the game for some critical moments.
Special teams: D
The Commanders challenged Detroit’s kick return game, and Craig Reynolds/Kalif Raymond did not raise their efforts. Of Detroit’s five kick returns, four were stopped short of the 30, with the Lions averaging just 22.8 yards per return. Jack Fox’s one punt of the game wasn’t great—a 43-yarder that failed to pin the Commanders inside their 20. But hey, at least Jake Bates made all of his kick while Zane Gonzalez missed one.
Coaching: D-
I imagine coaching is going to be a big topic this week, and rightfully so. There were a couple of critical mistakes the immediately snowballed into huge errors.
It started on third-and-1 with the Lions up 7-3. The Lions are in the red zone with an opportunity to score, and they opt to go empty backfield, telegraphing a pass play. Goff is sacked, he fumbles, and what should’ve been an easy first-and-10 situation from inside the Commanders turned into zero points—and eventually a Commanders touchdown.
Then there’s the Jameson Williams trick play. It’s easy to criticize a trick play when it doesn’t work, but the timing of that just felt odd. Detroit wasn’t having trouble moving the ball, it was first-and-10, and the Lions were by no means desperate—down 10 with 12 minutes left at midfield. Obviously, Williams needs to be smarter, but why put your inexperienced receiver in that position?
Finally, the too many men penalty was just an absolute disaster that cannot happen. I realize at that point in the game the Lions had Thomas-Oliver and Norris in the game—two players who likely got close to zero first-team reps all year—but when all of that chaos is happening, you have to use a timeout. You cannot give the Commanders a free fourth-down conversion near the goal line under any circumstances.
I could probably go on and slam Aaron Glenn for the defensive performance, but I don’t know what you could have realistically expected out of that group given the way injuries depleted that unit. That’s a top-five offense going against the personnel of a bottom-five defense. Still, it would’ve been nice to see Daniels rattled even a little bit.
