Lions Report 01/04/2025

Lions Report: That was a weird game and a strange end to a disappointing season. As expected, Dan Campbell played all of his starters. I’m not going to fault him for that approach. He’s a competitor and I get it. With Penei Swell, Alex Anzalone and Alim McNeil joining the party in the Lions injury list, I thought the Lions might be in for a beatdown.

I thought incorrectly. (I wanted to write “wrong” but there’s some grammar Nazis out there.)

What the heck was going on with the Chicago Bears? They were the ones fighting to secure a number two seed in the playoffs. They looked terrible. They punted or turned the ball over on downs in their first 4 series, going into the third quarter. I counted at least four dropped passes, and there were probably more. Caleb Williams was missing passes, and the Bears offensive line was allowing him to get pressured most of the game.

Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to see it. But then, like last quarter of the Lions season, the bubble burst. The Bears came to life in the 4th quarter. After scoring zero points through three quarters, the Bears put up 16 in less than 10 minutes and tied the game.

On the ensuing drive, the Lions were grinding it out with their rushing attack and looked like they were going to score another touchdown. However, Goff got called for an intentional grounding penalty, which left them with a 3rd and 20. Goff threw a pass into what was at least triple coverage, resulting in an interception. I thought we were toast. Not so fast. The Bears went 3 and out on that drive and ended up punting.

The Lions drive down and kick the winning FG to win the game.

Am I happy? Yeah, mostly. The Lions have a winning record for the third year in a row. That’s nice. They also secured the 4th place schedule before the game when the Vikings beat the Packers, so that’s good too.

Overall, this is a confusing team. I know injuries played a major factor again this season, and this time we couldn’t overcome them. Some weeks, the Lions looked like they could beat anyone in the league. Then they went out and couldn’t beat Max Brosner. So confounding.

One thing that isn’t confounding: Amon-Ra St. Brown. The man is a stud. He’s playing through injuries and still put up 11 receptions for 139 yards. Some of those converted critical first downs. And while Khalif Raymond only had 3 receptions for 52 yards, it felt like each one was a backbreaker for the Bears.

If I’m a Bears fan, I’m worried. That’s a bad way to go into the playoffs. Yeah, they backdoored into the number two seed but that’s a crappy way to do it. In the end, I don’t really give a rip.

I need to decompress. I’ll post a season ending review, with report cards, next weekend.