Pride of Detroit
6 takeaways from the Detroit Lions’ playoff loss to the Washington Commanders
I hope you enjoyed the ride because the ending was a crash landing.
The Detroit Lions, arguably the top team in the NFL with an electric offense, collapsed under the playoff lights in an embarrassing fashion. An incredible 15-2 regular season yielded just one playoff game and one playoff loss. The Lions outclassed the Washington Commanders in nearly every facet on paper, but it mattered not. The Commanders were the better team on Saturday night, and the Lions shot themselves in every possible extremity.
The defense continued to be a liability. The offense had its trickery, but the bad far outweighed the good in this one. It was only fitting that the season all but ended with a Jameson Williams interception—live by the sword, die by the sword. On a night when the offense needed to be perfect, it only added to the implosion.
The Super Bowl dreams are dead for now. For the last time this season, let’s examine some takeaways.
The Lions chose the worst possible time to earn their third loss of the season. Earn is the key word here, since Detroit was just as damaging to themselves as the Commanders were. This loss is on the Lions, plain and simple. They were a Super Bowl-caliber team and they lost against a team that, frankly, is not. The Lions set themselves a high bar with their regular season dominance, sure, but the expectations were high for good reason: they were a damn good team. Instead, it’s a quick offseason exit and wasting of a 15-win season.
With coordinators Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson as potential head coaching candidates, the Lions coaching staff could get gutted this offseason. Not only could they lose two top coordinators, but they could take an assistant coach or two with them. The Lions have built themselves up as a team whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and it seems possible that they may lose two of their most important parts.
The Lions will get back players for injury, sure, but it is difficult to rebound from something like this. The entire phenomenal regular season ended up not mattering because the team could not show up when it mattered. The Lions now have back-to-back devastating playoff loses when factoring in the NFC Championship loss to the San Francisco 49ers last season. That track record is painful, plain and simple. Adding to the woe is a difficult-looking schedule for 2025 featuring multiple playoff teams. Sure, great teams should beat playoff-caliber teams, but it could be a gauntlet for the Lions if they want to win the division and top NFC seed yet again.
This was one of Detroit’s best chance at a Super Bowl in franchise history. They had a beatable opponent. They had a high-octane offense. They had one of the best coaching staffs in the NFL. All of it amounted to...
