History Repeats Itself: Ravens 19, Lions 17

On December 17, 2013, I looked at Ford Field in awe. It was Monday Night Football, the crowd was absolutely raucous as the Detroit Lions was attempting to clinch its first division championship since 1993. That's one year before I was even born. 2013 was supposed to be the Lions' year. Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler both were dealing with injuries that put them on the sideline for a good chunk of the season, so first place was Detroit's for the taking. All the Lions had to do was win on their home turf against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Lions defense bent but did not break. Baltimore didn't get into the end zone once. The Ravens settled for field goals time and time again. The Lions struggled to get something going on offense themselves, but an 80-yard drive capped with a touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to tight end Joseph Fauria made Ford Field rock as the Lions went up 16-15. Baltimore had a decent return to their own 33, but the Lions only let the Ravens move up 25 more yards. To win the game, the Ravens would have to make a 61-yard field goal to win the game. I stood there in the stadium with my dad as Justin Tucker booted it through the uprights like it was nothing. The Lions lost the game 18-16 after Matthew Stafford threw his third interception of the night on the next drive. The Lions would not win the division. They would not make the playoffs. They would end up firing head coach Jim Schwartz weeks afterwards for the embarrassing meltdown down the stretch.

I stood there in awe as I took it all in. I've cited that game as the most heartbreaking sports event of my young life. It's the kind of experience that completely hardens you from attempting to feel positively about sports, especially when your sports team is the Detroit Lions. There have been a lot of heartbreaking losses for that team, but December 17, 2013 has always stood out.

There were a lot fewer stakes on September 26, 2021. The Lions aren't contending for a wild card spot, much less a division title. They have yet to even win a game this season. The defense has been dreadful, and the offense inconsistent. The Ravens were beat up by injuries, but still have hopes they can make a big run with Lamar Jackson at the helm.

Despite the clear gaps in talent between the two teams, Detroit found themselves in the game. The Lions miraculously found themselves up 17-16. Despite the team not having expectations, Ford Field was louder than it's been in probably four years. Fans just wanted to see this team eke out a win. I stood on my feet in Ford Field once again, only a few rows away from where I stood on December 17, 2013. I wasn't just with my dad this time, but my mom and my sister and her husband and my three nephews. My oldest nephew was losing his mind. The Lions were really going to pull off an upset.

Then the Ravens converted 4th-and-19, spiked the ball, then threw the ball out of bounds for one last shot. Justin Tucker, still one of the greatest kickers in NFL history if not the greatest kicker, would have to do something that had never been done before. He would have to make a field goal from 66 yards deep. This time, it wasn't so clear. Half the Ford Field crowd thought he missed as the ball actually bounced off the crossbar and forward, just barely clearing it. The Ravens stormed the field in celebration. My nephew, feeling the highest of highs just seconds prior, folded into his grandmother's lap asking, "Why? Why can't the Lions ever win?" I once again stood in silence and awe as history repeated itself. This is Lions fandom.

I saw all the tweets and the articles about how this was the best possible thing for the Lions. How they're not going to the playoffs anyway, so losing close games that the team was competitive in but retaining draft position is the best way for things to go down. But when you're in the stadium surrounded by thousands of other people that just want to feel a little bit of football joy losing their minds because the Lions really might pull off the upset this time, it's hard to think like that. And you can't explain that to your 11 year-old nephew. He doesn't care about draft position. He just wants to know why the Lions don't ever win, and why they specifically always lose like this. All you can do is say, "Because we're Lions fans, and that's what life is like for us."

It sucks.

Quick Hits

Carried by... the defense?: For a good chunk of this game, the Lions were surprisingly carried by their defense. They weren't perfect. They needed Marquise Brown to drop several balls to stay in the game, because the secondary still isn't very good. The linebackers played better this week, with Jamie Collins sitting out this game just days before the team would cut him. Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Derrick Barnes performed fine in his stead. The Ravens still had a lot of yardage up the middle on plays where linebackers were the closest defenders, but it wasn't quite the massacre that Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Jones performed on the linebackers in Green Bay last week. Alex Anzalone looked a lot better in run support in particular.

The real defensive improvement came with the defensive line and the outside linebackers. Romeo Okwara had a fantastic performance. I don't believe he stepped off the field for a single defensive snap. The Lions consistently kept the lethal Lamar Jackson contained in the pocket. They got some really clutch sacks. It was nice to see them feast a little bit after a couple weeks they weren't garnering enough pressure.

Just One Coaching Complaint: I've largely heaped praise on Dan Campbell and the Lions coaching staff's aggression on offense, but this is the first time I've really disagreed with the decisions. On the Lions' last drive deep into Ravens territory, the Lions ran the ball three times and then kicked the go-ahead field goal. I would've liked a bit more aggression. I'm fine with the first two runs to force the Ravens to use their timeouts, and the field goal isn't ideal, but it's fine. But I would've preferred that third down call to be a shot down the field either for a first down or a touchdown. I understand that puts you at risk for an interception, or that an incompletion stops the clock and gives the Ravens a little bit more time on their drive, but I think the positives outweighed the negatives. The Ravens had Justin Tucker, so their field goal range, as we saw, is way bigger than most NFL teams. They don't need that much time to get him in game-winning range, so at least one shot at the end zone where the Lions would have to force the Ravens to score a touchdown themselves on the next drive would have made me a lot more comfortable.

Maybe Two Coaching Complaints: For the first half in particular, the Lions were looking undisciplined. The Lions had a few costly penalties on offense when they were already sputtering. There seemed to be communication issues in the secondary at multiple points, including the 4th-and-19 that the Ravens converted. The Ravens also had a touchdown from a blown coverage. I understand that it's a young team, a young coaching staff, and there are multiple players who have been rushed into playing time before they're ready, but you can't have mistakes like that in close games like this. When one team's a huge underdog, they have to play more disciplined in close games, because their huge mistakes will get feasted on. 

Another Weird Day for Goff: I'm not sure Jared Goff is going to play two halves of a football game the same way this season. He looked completely lost in the first half, but was a lot sharper in the second half as the team rallied. I know he's not being helped much by his receivers; only Kalif Raymond really seemed to have a good game for that group with 6 receptions for 68 yards. Still, it's really hard to watch Goff and think that he might be the Lions' answer at quarterback beyond this season or the next. Still plenty of season to disprove that, but early returns aren't promising.

Feed. D'Andre. Swift: The Lions running game wasn't great on Sunday, only averaging 3.4 yards per carry, but D'Andre Swift was the difference maker in the second half against the Ravens. The Lions kept feeding him over and over in the passing game, and the Ravens didn't know what to do. Swift is an absolute killer in space, and when T.J. Hockenson's production is limited like he was in this game, Swift should probably be getting like two out of every three touches. He's playing that well.

Jamaal Williams didn't play as well, but he's been showing why he's been such a great addition this season too. The Lions had 285 yards in this game. 174 of those were from Swift and Williams. They are the absolute heartbeat of this offense. Campbell and Anthony Lynn should just let them cook.

What Can You Even Do, I Mean Really: Packers 35, Lions 17

[Jeff Nguyen/Detroit Lions]

As soon as I saw the Packers struggle against the Saints in week one, I knew this was going to happen.

Every so often, Aaron Rodgers has a stinker. It's fine. Every quarterback has them. But Aaron Rodgers is a three-time NFL MVP, nine-time Pro Bowler, four-time All-Pro, etc. etc. He is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. When he has an uncharacteristic performance, when he's not hitting his receivers right on the money like he almost always does, people want to ask if he's finally washed up.

When those questions get asked, Rodgers' next opponent suffers. He almost always bounces back from those games right away, and he bounces back hard. Monday Night Football was no exception. In the Packers' home opener of the season, he completely picked apart the Lions. There's not much more to say. He proved the haters and the doubters and the losers all wrong. He's still Aaron Freaking Rodgers.

Nobody is surprised by this. The Lions in their current position are the perfect team to bounce back against. It is a lot easier to play at home than it is to play in the Superdome. And even with the offseason drama between Aaron Rodgers and the organization, the idea that Rodgers would be "checked out" was always silly. This is not a man who gets "checked out" of football. He will not get back at the Packers organization for any perceived slights by giving up on the game. He'll do it by playing games like these. Rodgers on the football field is a player fueled by spite, and when the narratives around him get as stupid as they did this last week, that's when he strikes hardest.

I've said so much about Aaron Rodgers, a player I absolutely hate talking about, for several paragraphs. This is because there's hardly anything to say about the Lions in this game. They played very poorly. Rodgers was always going to come out in this game swinging, but the Detroit defense didn't help themselves here. It was an absolutely putrid game for the Lions.

If you put any quarterback in front of that Detroit Lions defense last night and he would thrive. When that quarterback is the most spiteful man in football, it gets ugly quick.

Quick Hits

More Like Alex Anza-done Because He Got Cooked: The Lions defense had a bad day in general, but nobody got picked apart worse than the Lions linebacker corps. With Rodgers and his receivers posing such a threat deep downfield, Detroit had to keep its safeties deep. Green Bay knew this, and picked apart the Lions' weak linebacker group. Tight end Robert Tonyan had 52 yards and a touchdown. Aaron Jones had 115 all-purpose yards with four touchdowns. Linebackers Alex Anzalone and Jamie Collins didn't look like they belonged on the same field as those Packers players. Anzalone always looked a step or two behind when the Packers went his way. I don't think Collins was actually jogging out there on the field, but he sure did look like he was moving through molasses. Derrick Barnes is a rookie fourth-round pick. He's not going to change much, if anything, in the big picture right now. Still, this team desperately needs a spark at the position, and getting him reps doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world right now.

Step On Down, You're The Next Detroit Lions Cornerback: A week after cornerback Jeff Okudah got put on the injured reserve list with an Achilles injury, his replacement Ifeatu Melifonwu got hurt against Green Bay. News from the Lions organization doesn't seem to be positive in regards to a timely return. Melifonwu's replacement in the game Jerry Jacobs was playing an entirely different position mere weeks ago. For all the issues with the Lions have defending the middle of the field right now, they might get picked apart even worse on the outside with Amani Oruwariye and Jerry Jacobs as the primary corners. Oruwariye has had flashes of solid play in his brief career, but he's not a guy you want on the opponent's best receiver. The cornerback depth is looking absolutely abysmal right now, and might only get worse. They need to find somebody that can at least serve as a stopgap at the position on the waiver wire or in free agency.

You're Not Free From Sin Either, Defensive Line: The Lions got a few sacks on Aaron Rodgers, but overall they didn't provide as much push in this game as I wanted to see against an inexperienced Green Bay o-line. But they played the least bad out of any defensive group, so we're going easy on them this week. Do better.

That Offensive Line, Though: The Lions didn't have to worry about the Packers pash rush as much with Za'Darius Smith out, but it's hard not to be thrilled with this unit's play so far in the season. Jared Goff had tons of time to throw the ball. The run game wasn't as effective this week, but for now I'm putting that on D'Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams being a tad underwhelming so far when it comes to getting yards after contact.

Playcalling Still Good & Other Offensive Observations: The Lions drove the ball down the field really well in the first half. I would've liked them to be a little more aggressive in going for a touchdown instead of a field goal at the end of the half, but I understand not wanting to give Aaron Rodgers time to go down the field himself. The second half was obviously worse, but that happens when it's raining at a point in the game you have to pass the ball. Both Jared Goff and his receivers had some trouble holding onto the ball once it started getting slippery.

I saw quite a few people grumbling about going for it on 4th-and-1 in the third quarter, especially when the Lions passed on that play. I didn't have an issue with either decision. With the Lions defense playing like it did, you've got a better shot at staying in the game if you sustain that drive. Goff had a wide-open Amon-Ra St. Brown on a short route, but he opted instead to throw it to a much-better-defended Quintez Cephus. On the ESPN2 Manning Brothers Broadcast, special guest Brett Favre yelled in frustration at Goff missing the checkdown there. Considering that Jared Goff is usually the king of checkdown passes, it was a tinge ironic hearing gunslinger Brett Favre of all people point out that he missed that one.

I think Goff overall did a better job this week than he did last week, despite him having some issues keeping his grip on the ball once the weather hit. Last week had the flashy comeback drives, but Goff looked a lot more poised and comfortable inside and outside of the pocket early in this game. It's still hard to figure out who the primary target in this offense is going to be after wide receiver. This week Quintez Cephus looked like the guy. He made plays early in the game and had some opportunities to make plays late, but it didn't work out. I don't know if he's going to be a consistent threat week-to-week, but it was nice to see him making plays. The rest of the wide receivers... ask again later.

Next Week: Things don't get at all easier as the Lions have to face Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens at home. The Ravens held on to overcome the Chiefs in a very close game. Jackson threw two picks at Tyrann Mathieu that weren't great decisions, but the Lions really don't have a guy on defense who can make Jackson pay for his mistakes quite like Mathieu. The Ravens defense didn't play lights out all game, but they played just enough to keep themselves in it. That's all against the Chiefs of course, who are one of the most talented teams in the NFL. To say that the Lions are not on the same level from a talent perspective as the Chiefs or the Ravens is an understatement. The past two weeks were tough losses against tough opponents where the Lions got punished for any mistakes they made. Against this Ravens squad, they'll have to play nearly perfect football to even make it a close game.

What To Expect When You're Not Expecting: 49ers 41, Lions 33

Photos taken seconds before disaster [Kithmon F. Dozier/Detroit Free Press]

A lot of the analysis that occurs after week one of the NFL season is naturally how a team performed against its preseason expectations. The NFL has a long off-season, with a months-long free agency period and more months between the NFL Draft and even the start of OTAs (organized team activities), much less training camp, the preseason and the season itself.

Over half of the calendar year for the NFL is offseason. Because of that, there's a lot of anticipation, a lot of hypothesizing, a lot of fans trying to decipher coaching changes, roster moves and practice reports to predict how their favorite team will perform when the season does come.

If you're a fanbase like the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, or the defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the expectations are pretty clear because of coaching/talent levels: Super Bowl or bust. For Chicago Bears or New York Jets fans, you're likely not expecting much team success but want to see your shiny new quarterbacks play well (or play at all, if you're a Bears fan). 

But what do expect from a team like the Detroit Lions? The end of the Matt Patricia/Bob Quinn era in Detroit was ugly. The team looked like it had given up before Patricia was given the boot in the middle of the 2020 season. Star quarterback Matthew Stafford, not wanting to endure yet another complete rebuild of the team, demanded a trade and got sent to a playoff contender in Los Angeles. The cupboard of talent left behind by the previous regime was both barren and expensive.

There have been a lot of positive reports about the new Lions regime. Brad Holmes has made some savvy moves as general manager so far, and handled the Stafford situation with professionalism. He cut some bad contracts left behind by Quinn loose, preferring young talent he could develop to some of the struggling veterans who were in Detroit. Dan Campbell, though some of the national media still can't get past the "bite off kneecaps" line in his original presser, has been praised by players. Reports from camp were full of talk about younger players who didn't show much for Patricia starting to make strides, having fun, learning the game of football rather than fearing the wrath of a power-tripping rocket scientist.

That's all fine and good, but what are the actual expectations once this team hit the turf? The team might be improving and learning, but the bar is still low. Matthew Stafford could carry mediocre and outright bad teams to wins because of excellent quarterbacking. The roster still needs at least another offseason before it's remotely competitive. You love to hear that the defensive players are improving in practice, but this is still a defense that was historically bad last season. In reality the only expectations you could really have are low when it comes to actual wins on the field, but hopeful in terms that the team would fight hard, play competitively and maybe even pull an upset or two against a superior team.

I was not expecting the Lions to come out like they did in the first half on Sunday. I expected mistakes, but the team looked disastrous by the end of the half. While I expected poor defense, I didn't expect the San Francisco 49ers to average nearly 10 yards per play. While I expected Goff to struggle, I didn't expect him to completely stall out as many times in 49ers territory as he did.

In the waning moments of the half, the Lions gave up a touchdown, threw a pick-6 on a terrible Goff decision, allowed San Francisco to march down the field for a field goal in about 40 seconds, then had an almost-disastrous botched kick return as the final seconds of the clock ticked down. My expectations for this team were already on the floor, and somehow that half of football lowered them. I was not the only one in the stadium to think this, as boos rained down from the stands (encouraged by a shockingly large number of San Francisco fans in Ford Field).

And then I was not expecting what came after. If any hope remained in Detroit, it went away when cornerback Jeff Okudah failed to make a play on an underthrown ball to Deebo Samuel that became a 79-yard touchdown. The 43-yard screen pass touchdown to D'Andre Swift on the Lions' next drive was fun, but it felt meaningless. The Lions were completely overpowered; the team looked dead in the water. Until they weren't.

After two drives where Detroit had to punt and then turned it over on downs, they were finally able to march down the field, culminating in a Jamaal Williams rushing touchdown. They succeeded on the two-point conversion. It seemed like basic garbage time touchdown with the 49ers playing more prevent defense. Then the Lions recovered the onside kick. They marched down the field again. Goff threw a touchdown to Quintez Cephus, followed by another two-point conversion. Then they forced a fumble on the play the 49ers should have clinched the game on. Detroit went down the field again before eventually succumbing to the San Francisco defense on the 24 yard line.

There are plenty of caveats you can make about this Lions comeback. The 49ers took their feet off the gas in the second half. They weren't going to unload the playbook on a team like Detroit in what was largely an uncompetitive game, and most defenses go into "bend-don't-break" mode when they're leading by four touchdowns. Still, the Lions' determination in playing until the end of the half almost paid off. They made a much better team sweat it out in the end. After lowering expectations as far as they could, they started to look more like the "bad but fun and competitive" way that I thought I was going to see more of in the first half.

I don't think the play of the fourth quarter Lions is going to sustain itself all the time this season. Detroit will make more catastrophic mistakes with the roster it has. But when you see how this team fought, you can hold onto just a little bit of hope as a Lions fan for the first time since Jim Caldwell was coaching.

Quick Hits

Jared Goof: Because of the fourth-quarter heroics, there's a lot of debate in Lions circles on whether or not Jared Goff had a good overall performance. I think that's a little silly. He was largely not good. The missed touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown was inexcusable, as was the pick-6. Goff is extremely reliant on checkdowns to tight ends and running backs. While those tight ends and running backs had good games, you'd still like to see him at least try to move the ball downfield before miracle comeback attempt time. Goff had about as many completions at or behind the line of scrimmage as he did over 10 yards. A lot of fans are seeing the fact that he completed 38 passes on a context-free box score and saying "that's good!" On those 38 completions, Goff only had 338 yards. 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo almost matched that on 21 fewer completions and 32 fewer attempts. Not great. He does have one excuse, though...

Fried Receivers: This has to be the worst wide receiver unit in the league, and it got worse when Tyrell Williams went to the locker room after a head-to-head hit. I understand why the team didn't spend big on any top receiver free agents in year one of a rebuild, but that room is just completely barren. Amon-Ra St. Brown might end up being the top receiver on the team by the end of the season, and he's a fourth-round pick in his rookie season. Quintez Cephus and Kalif Raymond made a few plays down the stretch late in the game, but these receivers with this quarterback just seems like a match made in hell.

But... A Running Game!: Jamaal Williams and D'Andre Swift looked great both rushing and receiving. Though the Lions had to give up on the run early in the game with such a lopsided score, they looked good early in the game. The interior line made some big holes, and rookie tackle Penei Sewell held his own against Joey Bosa. Williams and Swift were also extremely successful in the passing game, despite one bad Swift drop.

Coaching Bits and Bobs: A lot of people who otherwise didn't listen to a single word Dan Campbell said this offseason expected him to be an ultra-conservative, run-first head coach simply because he seems like a meathead and said a thing about biting kneecaps. While this team is going to emphasize the running game when they can, they completely abandoned it when they needed to. Campbell also went for it on fourth down five times. While some of those attempts were late in the game when the Lions needed to go for it if they wanted to come back, two attempts were early in the game where other Lions regimes would have punted or attempted a long field goal. That was nice to see. I thought most of Anthony Lynn's offensive playcalling was solid and creative. Maybe as a Lions fan I'm just shocked that a coach is actually, finally making use of pre-snap motion like the rest of the league. There were some screen plays that got blown up right away that I didn't like, and the playcalling is at least a little hamstrung by a quarterback who won't throw past the sticks, but overall I liked it.

Defense Bad: I don't have a lot to say about the defensive side of the ball other than "it was a disaster." Okudah had some boneheaded plays, but his Achilles injury puts expectations for this defense even lower. He was hopefully going to make some strides this season. Garoppolo had way too many wide open receivers in this game, and was pressured way too little. Derrick Barnes made some plays down the stretch in very limited snaps, and he might get an increased role in the coming weeks because the other linebackers looked bad. Overall, they seemed lost. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn had his work cut out for him with this roster, but yikes.

Around the League: Since I was actually in the stadium for the Lions game, I missed most of this week's games. As much as I'd like to count out Aaron Rodgers after his horrendous game against the Saints, I can't. He's had these games before, and he's always bounced back. Still, it's nice to see the rest of the NFC North struggle as much as (or even worse than) the Lions in week one. It probably won't hold, but it's enough for me right now.

For the Sunday Night Football game, however, man. That one was hard to watch. Matthew Stafford's debut for the Rams was basically perfect. He hit almost all of his throws on the money, including some beautiful deep passes. While the Rams running game and defense did sputter at times, they held on especially at the end of the game. It was basically everything I wanted to see with Stafford for 12 years in Detroit, and I hate it. Happy for him, but I hate it.