After last week, there was a case to be made for the Detroit Lions being the best NFL team.
Most polls still had the San Francisco 49ers winning that championship, but the Lions had a chance. Their lone defeat came in overtime against a formidable Seattle Seahawks squad. Detroit’s victories, including one away from the Kansas City Chiefs, looked impressive. The Lions defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with great style, despite the fact that most strong teams were struggling and even losing last week. For generations, Lions supporters had been waiting for this team. Lastly./cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72593099/usa_today_21233597.0.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
Sunday came, and the old doubts began to creep in. The Lions were embarrassed by Lamar Jackson, Detroit’s offense vanished, and the Baltimore Ravens defeated the Lions 38–6.
One of the teams in Baltimore on Sunday looked like a Super Bowl contender, and it wasn’t the Lions.
It was reminiscent of a streak last season in which the Lions lost 29-0 to the New England Patriots and then 24-6 to the Dallas Cowboys. But that Lions team was off to a 1-6 start. It wasn’t like this team, which was living up to all of the preseason hype and made people wonder if they were really a Super Bowl contender.
Both sides of the ball failed. The Ravens did whatever they wanted on offense from the early minutes of the game. Detroit had a bad defense last season and did a lot to improve that group in the offseason. And it has looked good at times. But the Lions also gave up 31 defensive points at home to the Seahawks and 38 more to the Ravens on Sunday. Lamar Jackson had 357 passing yards and three touchdowns and added a rushing touchdown, and it probably could have been more if the game was remotely competitive in the second half.
It’s hard to say the Lions’ defense is good enough to make a deep playoff run when they have two games like that on their résumé through seven weeks.
Detroit’s offense had been consistently good before Sunday, which made the performance against the Ravens weird. The Lions’ first seven possessions ended with four punts, two turnovers on downs and an interception. They didn’t score until the fourth quarter when it didn’t really matter. It’s easier to trust this was just an off day for the Lions’ offense and they’ll bounce back, but it’s still a reminder of last season when Detroit’s offense inexplicably disappeared for a while.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell was honest about the result, saying “They kicked our ass.” But he saw a positive for a team that has been getting a lot of positive attention lately.
“You don’t want these to happen but when it does, it re-centers you, it refocuses you and that’s all I know,” Campbell said, via NFL.com.
The Lions should be fine. But talk about them being on the same tier as the 49ers or Philadelphia Eagles has to be paused. Elite teams don’t generally find themselves down 35-0 in games like Detroit did Sunday. Winning the NFC North and maybe a playoff game would have been a great season for the Lions, and it still would be. But excited Detroit fans might have to revert back to those lesser expectations after what we saw Sunday.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 7 of the NFL season:
WINNERS
T.J. Watt: Even when Watt isn’t a force throughout an entire game, he can make the one play that leads to a win.
Watt had just one tackle Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams, but also had a game-changing interception. On the first play of the third quarter, Watt dropped into coverage, read Matthew Stafford and drove on a short pass underneath to Cooper Kupp. Watt picked it off and that led to a Steelers touchdown. Until then the Steelers had done nothing on offense and trailed 9-3. They went on to win 24-17.
