Before Saturday’s stunning loss to the Washington Commanders in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, it was a happy time for the Lions and the people of Detroit.
The team won a franchise-record 15 games and was the number one seed in the NFC, which meant that everybody had to come through Ford Field if they wanted to advance to the Super Bowl.
The Washington Commanders went into Ford Field and forced five turnovers as they dominated the Lions 45-31 to move on to the NFC Championship Game, where they will face the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field next Sunday.
Washington became the first team since 2023 to force five or more turnovers in a playoff game.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff, who committed four of the team’s five turnovers, wished he could have done a better job protecting the football.
“Just crap man – I wish I had an answer for you, it just sucks,” he said. “Yeah, I wish I played a little bit better, wish I could have taken care of the ball a little bit better. Obviously, the pick-6 is really the one I’d really like back – that was just a poor decision by me. The other ones were just sometimes part of the game, but yeah, it’s on me. I got to take care of it better and certainly would have given ourselves a better chance to win had I done that.”
The Pro Bowl quarterback feels sorry for the Detroit faithful.
“Yeah, trying to process it, and it sucks, and again I’m so painfully disappointed and sorry to our fans,” Goff said. “It sucks – this is as tough as it gets, and again – I know I’m rambling and repeating myself – but it’s hard.”
Lions head coach Dan Campbell, like Goff, is disappointed.
“It just hurts to lose, man,” he said. “And I don’t care if you’re the seven seed, six seed, five seed, one seed because I’ve lost at all of them damn near, and it stings, and it hurts. So, that hurts.”
It’s hard to win 15 games in the NFL, and it’s hard to get home-field advantage, so when you lose the way the Lions lost, it’s going to be difficult to process. The Lions battled injuries all season long, and they kept overcoming them, but they ran out of gas and steam on Saturday.
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