The Detroit Lions found a way to win against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, but honestly, it felt way messier than a team with their kind of expectations should ever look. After a first half where Detroit only scored seven points and punted the ball four times, things suddenly, magically, started clicking. It looked like a fever dream that only a GM could conjure: a strip-sack fumble forced by a blitzing Roger McCreary, recovered by DJ Wonnum, and suddenly the Lions were up three scores in a hurry. You think, “Okay, we’re the full-touchdown favorite, everything’s back on track.” Then, somehow, they nearly blew it all.
The Collapse That Almost Was
That’s the fitting way to describe Sunday: Detroit won, sure, but they also piled up a mountain of reasons to wonder how much they actually learned from last season. As soon as it felt like everything was finally together, the unraveling began. Boom! A 47-yard strike to Chris Olave, and the Saints flip the field instantly. A few plays later, New Orleans scored their first points of the afternoon. No worries, right? The Lions offense, their supposed bread and butter, would get up and off the ground. Nope. They promptly went three-and-out for the third time in the game.
And it just kept going. Jack Fox’s punt and the Lions’ coverage unit left a whole lot to be desired, gifting the Saints prime field position near midfield. Remember that Lions defense that pitched a shutout in the first half? The one that recorded a sack, an interception, and held the Saints to fewer than 115 total net yards, the first time Detroit had done that since December of 2015? Seven plays later, that defense watched New Orleans score. Oh, and if you’re counting, that included a brutal 21-yard defensive pass interference penalty on Rock Ya-Sin.
“Underwater” Football and a Questionable Escape
Alright, “turd quarter” flushed, you think the offense, the real strength, is gonna step up. Time to convert a third-and-short? Nope, they failed again, their second of the day, this time after Kool-Aid McKinstry broke up a pass intended for Amon-Ra St. Brown. And Fox, from the Lions’ own 45-yard line, punted the ball a measly 31 yards, giving the Saints excellent field position at their 24-yard line. That set up an agonizingly methodical 11-play, 66-yard drive for New Orleans, ending in a field goal. Suddenly, the Saints were only down four points, 21-17, with way too much football left to play.
For nearly 16 minutes of football on Sunday, the Lions were not playing complementary football. The offense, the defense, the special teams, it was all bad. Like, nothing good happened. That’s all it took for the game to flip completely on its head. Seeing that kind of breakdown makes you scratch your head when you hear Dan Campbell’s post-game speech: “We did not play our cleanest, but when we had to have it, all three phases, it’s what we talked about last night, man, when we needed somebody to pull us back out of the water, our head’s underwater, we did that. In all three phases.” Sure, coach, they “did that” to win, but the questions about how they got “underwater” in the first place, after being up big, are gonna hang heavy. The Lions found a win, but what they really found was a whole lot of bad habits that need to be cleaned up, and fast, if they want to avoid getting pulled under for good.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Pride of Detroit.
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