Top Super Bowl contender’s winning ways threatened by injury avalanche

No, Jared Goff. The sky is not falling on the Detroit Lions. At least not yet. 

The Lions had their NFL-best 11-game winning streak snapped by the Buffalo Bills and electric quarterback Josh Allen in a classic shootout at Ford Field on Sunday. For all the firepower the Lions have as the NFL’s most prolific offense in putting up points, they met their match and couldn’t keep up in the NFL’s highest-scoring game of the season. 

Bills 48. Lions 42. 

Momentum halted. Balloon popped. Gasket blown. 

Yet all it will take for the Lions (12-2) to hang onto the No. 1 seed, earn a first-round bye and seize home-field advantage for the NFC playoffs is another streak – as in winning their final three games. With that, the sky might still be Honolulu Blue. 

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Then again, with the injury-stung defense losing three more players on Sunday and the Lions offense now taking a major hit with the loss of sparkplug running back David Montgomery to a season-ending knee injury, the sky looks rather black and blue.

Lions coach Dan Campbell announced Monday that Montgomery will undergo surgery for a torn MCL. Tough break, Detroit. As if the rash of injuries to the defense that entered Week 15 with 13 players on injured reserve wasn’t enough.

“We acknowledge the fact we’ve lost players, we’ve lost really good players, but nobody cares,” Campbell said on Monday. “I mean, nobody cares and nobody’s gonna give us a pass or give us an asterisk next to (our) record. So, what it means is that some guys are gonna have an unbelievable opportunity.”

This, while the Lions try to come to grips with their first loss since Week 2.

“I’m sure there will be a ton of stuff written about the sky falling,” Goff said on Sunday. “We had won how many in a row. It sucks to lose. We would have loved to win every game out, all the way through the Super Bowl. I hope we can look back on this one as a good learning lesson for us and move on.” 

It would have been totally understandable if Goff went home and immediately packed his throwing arm in ice. The ninth-year pro threw a season-high 59 times. Against a Bills secondary without three injured starters, Goff also hit season highs for yards (494) and touchdown passes (5). 

But this came in a game when the Lions logged just 15 rushes and fell into an early hole because the Bills (11-3) started hot by scoring touchdowns on their first three drives. 

Did somebody mention a lesson?

Well, take your pick.

The last time the Lions lost, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Goff threw 55 times. So, no, that is not the desired formula. Yet Detroit’s 59-15 pass-run ratio against the Bills, which can be easily skewed when trying to rally from huge deficits, wasn’t the imbalance that should concern the Lions the most. 

They passed because they had to. And they had to because the battered defense – which lost three more players on Sunday – was so overmatched. 

For weeks, Detroit’s defense has been so short-handed. Its best player, defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, suffered a broken tibia and fibula in mid-October. Defensive end Marcus Davenport (triceps) and linebacker Alex Anzalone (broken arm) have missed much of the season, too.  

Yet with defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn creatively crafting schemes to cover for the setbacks – Detroit entered the matchup ranked third in blitz rate (32.2%), according to Pro Football Reference – the Lions kept on winning. 

Then came Sunday, when on top of being unable to contain Allen (the third quarterback in the past 30 years to pass for at least 250 yards with two rushing TDs in the first half), more losses were piled on with injuries. 

Cornerback Khalil Dorsey suffered a gruesome leg injury that coach Dan Campbell said was similar to Hutchinson’s and ends his season. And after Sunday’s game, Campbell braced himself for the bad news that was confirmed on Monday. Defensive tackle Alim McNeill suffered a torn ACL. Veteran cornerback Carlton Davis III has a fractured jaw.

“No excuses,” Campbell said, courageously. 

Sure, the NFL is a war of attrition. Every team in the league is dealing with injuries. Yet Detroit’s defense has had more than its share, which was only further exposed by the Bills. 

No, it’s not the first unit to be shredded by Allen, the MVP front-runner who spread the football around to nine targets in passing for 362 yards on Sunday and was never sacked. If he wasn’t converting on throws after rolling out of the pocket to extend plays, he was lethal with his legs. Again. Designed sweeps. Improvised scrambles. Misdirection power runs. 

Yet it wasn’t just Allen that the defense couldn’t contain as Buffalo rushed for 197 yards. James Cook (14 rushes, 105 yards) and Allen combined to average 6.9 yards per carry. It’s no wonder that Buffalo balanced its attack with 34 rushing attempts and 34 passes. 

In any event, the defense’s struggles illuminated the enormous pressure on Goff’s unit. After trailing by 21 points early in the third quarter, the Lions trimmed the deficit to 10 points and then to the final six-point margin. But that was more a reflection of grit and resilience than it was an indication that they would seize control of the game. 

And it underscored the reality of a challenge that will escalate when the competition stiffens in January. Balance wins in the playoffs. Complementary football matters. When the defense gets a stop, the offense converts it into points. Or so goes the idea. 

Defense wins championships? Well, until further notice Detroit, averaging an NFL-high 32.8 points per game, needs to be carried by an offense that makes the other teams play catch-up. And despite the presence of star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, scatback Jahmyr Gibbs and others, even that will be suddenly tougher with Montgomery slated for surgery.

Failing a litmus test against Buffalo wasn’t the worst outcome. Detroit still holds the No. 1 seed. Yet the key question about whether the Lions formula can hold up for a championship run was amplified, given the state of an injury-battered defense that can’t be counted on for stops.

Of course, Campbell, known for his aggressive game management decisions, pointed to something else that had nothing to do with the defense being short-handed. He grumbled about the intensity. As pesky as the Lions were in the fourth quarter, they had to play catch-up for the entire game. Not easy with that defense. 

The coach blamed himself for not having his team playing with urgency from the start. It was the proverbial team punched in the mouth, dazed as it processed what hit it. 

The Bills won’t be the only team capable of inflicting such pain if the Lions, who advanced to an NFC title game meltdown last season, hope to beat the best competition and take it a couple of steps further this time around. 

Lesson? 

“Maybe it’s a good wake-up call for us and a nice little recalibration for us,” Goff said. 

Either that or a reality check. The formula is a bit out of whack. 

“Now what are we going to do about it?” Campbell said. “We won’t sit there and feel sorry for ourselves.” 

After all, the sky isn’t falling. At least not yet. 

This story has been updated with new information.