It looks like the Lions Super Bowl hopes are likely gone...

[belcherboy]

I’m not sure how the Lions can bounce back from all these injuries in time for a strong playoff run. There have just been too many season-ending losses to key starters, and it’s hard to see a clear path forward.

On top of that, I think Johnson has been a huge part of the Lions’ success, and I doubt he’ll be back in 2025—he’s almost certainly going to land a head coaching job somewhere else. So even a healthy 2025 roster, may not be as good as this team was at one point this season.

I’m still hoping for the best and will watch every game with that hope, but realistically, I don’t see how they can recover enough for a deep playoff push. At this point, I’m doubtful they’ll end up with the #1 seed. Minnesota is on fire right now, and I don’t think Philly is losing another game. It would be a tough pill to swallow to win 13-14 games and still have to play a road game in the first round of the playoffs. Hopefully the Packers can do us a favor and beat the Vikings to give us some cushion.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Eh, welcome to the big kid club of NFL contention, idk. Several playoff teams been reduced to husks of themselves due to injuries either to their depth and/or starters. Dan Campbell has the correct mentality with no excuses.

 

[belcherboy]

Eh, welcome to the big kid club of NFL contention, idk. Several playoff teams been reduced to husks of themselves due to injuries either to their depth and/or starters.

Yup...it was a nice run this year.

The offense should still be fun to watch this year and in the future. I do hope they get a great replacement for Johnson next year. I would hate to see the offense fall back to far without him running the show.

 

[UnrealTerm04]

The Lions can easily score 40 points a game but they also give up 40 points a game and that can be a problem. Along with Campbell's high risk high reward style.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

The Lions can easily score 40 points a game but they also give up 40 points a game and that can be a problem. Along with Campbell's high risk high reward style.

The Bills are the same archetype of team and had their secondary out, have been grading poorly on defense all season, and yet controlled the game against the Lions, idk.

 

[obxyankeefan]

Eh, welcome to the big kid club of NFL contention, idk. Several playoff teams been reduced to husks of themselves due to injuries either to their depth and/or starters. Dan Campbell has the correct mentality with no excuses.

No excuses. The injuries to the DL have killed the depth of the Lions. Now they can't stop the running game. You are not going to go far in the playoffs giving up 7 or 8 yards per carry. As you said this is life in the big boys club.

 

[UnrealTerm04]

The Bills are the same archetype of team and had their secondary out, have been grading poorly on defense all season, and yet controlled the game against the Lions, idk.

Yeah, Allen himself controls the clock well with his rushing. Eventually, that could catch up to him if he's not careful when running straight into a linebacker.

 

[belcherboy]

The Bills are the same archetype of team and had their secondary out, have been grading poorly on defense all season, and yet controlled the game against the Lions, idk.

The Bills definitely smoked the Lions defense, but I'm not sure I would say the Bills defense "controlled the game against the Lions". I mean, 42 points is a big number in the NFL.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

The Bills definitely smoked the Lions defense, but I'm not sure I would say the Bills defense "controlled the game against the Lions". I mean, 42 points is a big number in the NFL.

Garbage time, my man.

 

[belcherboy]

Yeah, Allen himself controls the clock well with his rushing. Eventually, that could catch up to him if he's not careful when running straight into a linebacker.

Allen is amazing. The Lions couldn't hardly lay a finger on him. If he had a decent defense this season, I'm not sure anyone could touch the Bills right now. He's healthy, and the might allow the Bills to finally get that long sought after Super Bowl win in Buffalo. We'll see as they seem to find ways to lose in the playoffs the past few seasons.

 

[belcherboy]

Garbage time, my man.

I'm not sure I agree with that after watching that game. The Lions are known for scoring a lot of points in short periods of time, so I don't think the Bills were just playing "prevent".

Regardless, we are talking 42 points, which is twice the league average for scoring this season. I don't think the Bills defense handled the Lions like you attest they did.

 

[PDay8810]

l

Garbage time, my man.

Boy...Does Allen and the Bills worry you this much this year?

 

[Xeliou66]

It will be very hard for the Lions to win it all this year with all of their injuries - they’ve lost about half of their D it seems, and losing Montgomery is a killer as the 1-2 punch of Montgomery/Gibbs is key to the Lions O. I think the Eagles are the favorites in the NFC, followed by the Packers.

 

[belcherboy]

It will be very hard for the Lions to win it all this year with all of their injuries - they’ve lost about half of their D it seems, and losing Montgomery is a killer as the 1-2 punch of Montgomery/Gibbs is key to the Lions O. I think the Eagles are the favorites in the NFC, followed by the Packers.

Yeah, it's over. I do hope I'm wrong as that offense can still shoot out with anyone, but Monty was the guts of that running game (Gibbs is still GREAT though). The Lions are bankrupt on defense due to injuries, and now the offense is starting to take some tough hits.

It does look like the Eagles will be the favorites out of the NFC. We'll see who the #2 best team will be when GB plays the Vikings. I don't know who I would pick between the two of them right now.

 

[Xeliou66]

Yeah, it's over. I do hope I'm wrong as that offense can still shoot out with anyone, but Monty was the guts of that running game (Gibbs is still GREAT though). The Lions are bankrupt on defense due to injuries, and now the offense is starting to take some tough hits.

It does look like the Eagles will be the favorites out of the NFC. We'll see who the #2 best team will be when GB plays the Vikings. I don't know who I would pick between the two of them right now.

I would pick the Packers over the Vikings because I trust Love more than Darnold and I think the Packers rushing game is better as well. Both D’s are very strong. I think the Packers are kind of being forgotten about in the playoff race but they will be a hard out in the playoffs.

 

[belcherboy]

I would pick the Packers over the Vikings because I trust Love more than Darnold and I think the Packers rushing game is better as well. Both D’s are very strong. I think the Packers are kind of being forgotten about in the playoff race but they will be a hard out in the playoffs.

I agree, although the Vikings are likely to have home field advantage if they were to meet in the playoffs. That could be the the advantage that the Vikings need to get past them.

It's crazy that up until these injuries overwhelmed Detroit, the NFC North may have had 3 of the best 4 teams in the entire NFC...certainly 3 of the best 5 teams.

 

[Wolvie]

I think if the lions can hold on to that #1 seed then they still should have a better than even chance to make the super bowl. As a wild card teams they're toast.

 

[molsaniceman]

I would pick the Packers over the Vikings because I trust Love more than Darnold and I think the Packers rushing game is better as well. Both D’s are very strong. I think the Packers are kind of being forgotten about in the playoff race but they will be a hard out in the playoffs.

i disagree running game is close and vikings have jefferson/addison/hock

 

[ducky]

Quit feeling sorry for yourselves and exaggerating the losses.

Only a handful of those are actually real losses.

The reason your defense is going to suck is that Glenn sucks. Why they brought him back is so beyond me. His insistence on playing man coverage too much despite not having the talent for it was always going to cost you at some point IMO. Just like it has in the previous 3 seasons.

Peko
Davenport
Cominsky
Wingo
Lynn
Bada
Barnes
Reeves Maybin
Rakestraw
Dorsey
Melifonwu

11 of the people on the list of defense weren't even players this season for the Lions.

The combined stats of those 11 players is something like 60 tackles .5 sack and 2 passes defensed this season. You can replace that type of prolific production by throwing a dart at NFL practice squad lists.

The big loss there is Davis, McNeil, and Hutch. McNeil and Hutch are very good and great players respectively you cant possibly replace. And Davis is one of the only guys on your defense that is good on man to man coverage which Glenn is going to call despite not having the talent to do so anyways as the season grinds on. So that loss is big. But could easily be offset by smart coaching. The Vikes have hardly played man coverage all year because we dont have the talent to do it. Flores would love to if given the opportunity.

So while the Lions have injuries.....only a couple of those injuries are actually a big deal if their coaching staff does their job.

 

[shopson67]

Garbage time, my man.

Yeah, a lot of that was prevent in the 4th quarter at least. Just trying to work the clock, since the offense was struggling to take enough time off the clock, scoring too quickly.