The Detroit Lions' loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday put a dent in their playoff chances. They will now need to win out and get help along the way.
In the loss, Detroit's offense couldn't find their footing until the fourth quarter and never found it on the ground as their 15 rushing yards were the fewest by a Lions team in nearly two decades.
The Lions' defense allowed 481 yards of total offense, including 230 yards on the ground. Detroit got beat on both lines of scrimmage for a second straight week.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell knows the odds are small of advancing their season past Week 18 but playoffs or not, he wants to see his team play their brand of football these next two weeks.
"It's frustrating. We just lost two in a row," Campbell said after the game. "I know we got two left and I just want to see us finish, man. I just want to finish our style of football with two to go, man. Try to play four straight quarters of good football. Clean football. Efficient football. That's what I want to do."
The Lions will have to accomplish that on a short week with their next game in Minneapolis against the Minnesota Vikings (7-8) on Christmas afternoon.
"Find out who we are character-wise," quarterback Jared Goff said of these last two weeks. "Find out what we're made of. We know the percentages and what not, but we're not eliminated. We know we need some things to go our way but find out who we are and see if we can win these last two and see if we can get it and we'll be dangerous if we can."
PATH TO PLAYOFFS
The Lions must finish 2-0 and Packers finish 0-2. In that scenario, Detroit would get the final playoff spot in the NFC.
Detroit plays Minnesota and Chicago on the road the final two weeks. Green Bay hosts Baltimore Week 17 and travels to Minnesota to end the season Week 18.
TOUCHDOWN MACHINE
There is no greater player to ever wear a Detroit Lions uniform than Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders. Whenever a current player is mentioned in the same sentence as Sanders, they've done something right.
Third-year running back Jahmyr Gibbs passed Sanders Sunday for scoring the most touchdowns (48) in a player's first three seasons in the NFL. Gibbs' 4-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter passed Sanders and now gives him 17 touchdowns on the season.
POOL REPORT
Below is the pool report from PFWA pool reporter Nolan Bianchi with referee Carl Cheffers after the game regarding the final play of the game that ended on an Amon-Ra St. Brown offensive pass interference.
Question: What was the action that led to an offensive pass interference call on St. Brown on the final play of the game?
Cheffers: The official who called the foul said that the receiver created separation that gave him an advantage in catching the pass. So, he called pass interference.
Question: There was a pretty long discussion on the field between officials before the final call was announced. What were the officials discussing on the field after the last play?
Cheffers: It is a pretty complex play. We had the original player who had the ball, lose possession of the ball. So, we had to decide if that was a fumble or a backwards pass because of course we have restrictions on the recovery of a fumble inside of two minutes. We ruled that it was a backward pass, so the recovering player was able to advance it and that recovering player advanced it for a touchdown. We had to rule on that and then because of the offensive pass interference, it negates the touchdown. Because it is an offensive foul, we do not extend the half. Therefore, there is no score and there is no replay of the down. That's the way the rule is written.
Question: A few plays earlier, there was an offensive pass interference penalty on Isaac TeSlaa that nullified a touchdown catch. What was the specific infraction that warranted throwing the flag?
Cheffers: The reporting official on that play told me that the offending player picked one of the defenders, creating an opportunity for the offensive player to make the catch.
Question: Was it deemed that he was beyond a yard of the line of scrimmage, more than one yard past the line of scrimmage?
Cheffers: Well, it has to be beyond a yard or it would not be a foul. The ruling on the field was that the action occurred beyond a yard.
