ClutchPoints
The Detroit Lions’ chase for a ticket to the NFL playoffs ended in embarrassing fashion Thursday night.
Needing a win to keep their postseason hopes alive, the Lions instead saw its offense crash and burn in a 23-10 loss at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Detroit has thrived with its offense in the 2025 NFL season, but not in this contest, with Minnesota’s stop unit making sure that the Lions wouldn’t function as well as it usually does.
The Lions struggled a lot with ball security in the game, as they coughed up the ball six times. Quarterback Jared Goff was responsible for five of those, as he got picked off twice and lost all three of his fumbles. The other turnover was from running back Jahmyr Gibbs, as he added a lost fumble to his disappointing evening.
When they’re not giving the ball up, the Lions were not doing much either in terms of moving the chains, as underscored by this note from “Pride of Detroit”:
“It’s easy to say the Lions lost because of 6 turnovers, but they also averaged just 3.61 yards per play–their sixth-worst efficiency in a single game since 2010, worst since 2020. It was a complete and utter failure from the offense, well beyond those six plays.”
Goff went just 18-of-29 for 197 passing yards and a touchdown, but his turnovers were too much to overcome for the Lions, who also got just 68 rushing yards on 30 carries from their ground attack.
Another sad part for Detroit is the fact that the Vikings were even less productive in terms of yards offensively, yet Minnesota found a way to win. The Vikings only had 161 total yards to 231 by the Lions, who entered the game with an average of 6.1 yards per offensive play.
Detroit will play its regular-season finale in Week 18 against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.
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