Much was made about the Detroit Lions' significant offseason losses when they were defeated in their season opener by the Green Bay Packers. Dan Campbell and Co. quickly quieted those notions with a four-game winning streak, including a dominant win against his apprentice, Ben Johnson.
But things have started to crumble a bit lately in Detroit. Despite still holding the top spot in the NFC North, the Lions had lost two of their last four contests heading into Sunday Night Football against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12, which, for some reason, already felt like a must-win game.
Well, the Lions did not win. In fact, they got embarrassed a bit on national television with their repeated miscues on fourth down and an inability to capitalize on the Eagles seemingly begging them to take the lead in the primetime matchup.
Lions fall out of NFC playoff picture entirely after brutal loss to Eagles
Detroit ended up losing 16-9 in a game that felt much more demoralizing than the final score showed. This defeat was obviously going to drop the Lions a bit in the NFL standings, but fans didn't realize by how much until the clock struck 00:00.
The Lions are now on the outside looking in when it comes to the NFC playoff picture. After being the No. 3 seed and leading the division heading into the game, they are now a full game back from even being a wild card at this juncture.
Updated NFC playoff picture
Philadelphia Eagles (8-2, 1st NFC East)
Los Angeles Rams (8-2, 1st NFC West)
Chicago Bears (7-3, 1st NFC North)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-4, 1st NFC South)
Seattle Seahawks (7-3, 2nd NFC West)
Green Bay Packers (6-3-1, 2nd NFC North)
San Francisco 49ers (7-4, 3rd NFC West)
Detroit Lions (6-4, 3rd NFC North)
Carolina Panthers (6-5, 2nd NFC South)
Minnesota Vikings (4-6, 4th NFC North)
Dallas Cowboys (3-5-1, 2nd NFC East)
Arizona Cardinals (3-7, 4th NFC West)
Atlanta Falcons (3-7, 3rd NFC South)
Washington Commanders (3-8, 3rd NFC East)
New Orleans Saints (2-8, 4th NFC South)
New York Giants (2-9, 4th NFC East)
Clearly, things are tight right now in the conference. Just as one game can plummet Detroit, one game can help them rise through the ranks again. But this Lions team has more serious issues to figure out than where they land in the standings after Week 11.
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Relieving offensive coordinator John Morton of his play-calling duties seemed like a good idea, especially after the Lions hung 44 points on the Washington Commanders last week. But Campbell, who is now calling the plays, was quickly reminded that there are several levels to NFL defenses.
Whereas the Commanders are a sinking ship that can't stop a nosebleed, the Eagles are the defending champions who dethroned the dynastic Kansas City Chiefs and traded for a major game-changer at the trade deadline.
Jared Goff's issues are another story in and of themselves, as he made no progress to dispel the narratives about his struggles in cold weather and against the blitz on Sunday. Goff and the offense just looked disjointed, and they wasted a fairly dominant performance by the defense.
To make matters worse, the Lions are staring down a tough remaining schedule. The NFC will already be difficult enough to fend through, but Detroit has the ninth-toughest remaining schedule in the NFL, and the fifth-hardest in the NFC.
Upward mobility is obviously possible, as the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears and the hardest and second-hardest remainig schedules, respectively. However, the Lions will need to show a lot more than they did tonight for fans to have the kind of confidence that they did last year.