Going into halftime the Detroit Lions were ahead of the number one seed San Francisco 49ers by an astounding 17 points. Everything the Lions had been working for in the multiple off-seasons prior was paying off to this point… then they choked.
First off, Jared Goff played a great game even though his receivers let him down on multiple occasions. Goff threw for 273 yards off of 25 completions and a touchdown with no interceptions. Compared to how the Rams left him down in the trenches when they traded him to the Lions a few years back, Jared Goff has made a complete 180-degree comeback.
Moving from the last point, secondly, our wide receivers need to step up in big situations. Only rookie Sam LaPorta was able to keep his cool and consistently make plays in the second half — even while he was injured. Josh Reynolds dropped two vital passes that would have secured the Lions a fresh pair of downs and great field position to make a scoring run. However, one of the biggest concerns for me was the fact that Amon-Ra St. Brown only saw seven receptions off of Jared Goff’s 41 pass attempts. To win a game this big, the Lions need to utilize the star that got them this far in the season.
Third, Dan Campbell is not in the complete wrong. Going for it on tough fourth downs was the identity that Dan Campbell established early on in this season and made it the face of the Lions. All Grit. However, I do think that a field goal every once in a while is not an absolutely bad thing. It’s quite ironic that the Lions lost by three points, but I don’t discredit Campbell for trying to give his team the chance to maximize their points all game. In the end, it is the players on the field making the plays called by the coach. One of those plays ended in a drop by Reynolds that would easily put the Lions in striking rage with a fresh set of downs. What Campbell can take away from this game, however, is that a field goal is not a terrible option when your offense is belted down on the struggle-bus.
Lastly, our corners and secondary need a fresh start. The addition of Branch really helped the Lions in their defensive efforts but he could not do it all himself. The secondary was outstanding for the first half of the game but crumbled for the second. The Niners recognized that our run defense was quite amazing and went to throw the ball in the second half. That killed us. After an unlucky almost-interception that bounced off of the helmet of the Lion’s safety and landed in the hand of Brandon Aiyuk, the game flow was completely switched. This is where the downfall of the Lions started.
