A loss is a pretty familiar thing in and of itself, but this one had that good, ‘ole fashioned feeling to it: Lions keeping their outnumbered home fans hanging on by a strand of hope as they make a late comeback, only to fall flat on their faces in the end.
The Lions pulled within eight points and forced a huge three-and-out with just over three minutes remaining to receive a final opportunity to put one in the endzone and potentially tie the game with a two-point conversion. Yes, it all seemed highly unlikely, whether it was the defensive stop, a drive, a touchdown, or a two-point conversion, but it gave some fans a glitter of hope to hold on to.
The Lions were able to come up with the stop and drive into Steelers’ territory, but were sacked four times, FOUR TIMES, on the final drive to prevent them from having any sort of chance to get into the end zone and tie the game. In the end, a hail mary was knocked to the turf and the Steelers took a knee to pick up a 28-20 victory.
Detroit battled hard and stuck with the defending Super Bowl champions, but in the end they showed people why they are the Detroit Lions and just 1-21 in their last 22 games. The offensive line allowed an inexcusable, no matter who you’re playing, four sacks on the final nine plays, Culpepper threw a rookie-looking interception to halt a key Lions drive, and the Lions defense melted down when the team needed it most (the 47-yard touchdown after Hanson missed a field goal, in particular).
Culpepper wasn’t great, but his day was nothing to sneeze at either. He completed 23 of 37 passes (62 percent) for 282 yards and a touchdown. He also scrambled for 44 yards rushing, which reminded many Lions fans of what they saw when he was with Minnesota back in his Pro-Bowl days.
Unfortunately, when it came down to it Culpepper was fumbling, taking way too much time in the pocket (when he clearly showed he was capable of scrambling and definitely capable of throwing it away), cost the Lions yards on an intentional grounding, and threw an atrocious interception when the Lions were in the middle of a steady drive and in Pittsburgh territory. He was showing all game long with his dump off passes that his job was to manage the game and not make the big mistake, as expected from veteran quarterbacks. But then he made a stupid, non-veteran-like decision with under a minute remaining in the 3rd quarter by throwing across his body and across the field to a wide open Pittsburgh Steeler. If you look at that drive, the Lions were driving due to short passes and solid running plays. There was no need for Culpepper to force the issue there, especially considering it was 1st down on Pittsburgh’s 28-yard line.
The blame doesn’t fall on Culpepper though, as he played adequate enough for a backup quarterback. The Lions needed a mistake-free game to pull off this upset and there were plenty of mistakes to go around. Hanson missed a field goal on the Lions first possession of the 2nd half, Detroit’s offense failed to put the ball in the end zone in the first half despite having 1st and Goal on the Steelers’ 7-yard line on their second possession (due in large part to Culpepper’s intentional grounding), and their offensive line gave up three sacks in a row on the Lions final drive (which is mind boggling to me. How can you allow three sacks in a row? And as a quarterback, how many sacks does it take before you learn you can’t sit in the pocket with the abysmal offensive line that crouches in front of you).
Detroit also had a couple bad breaks in this game. On one of the Steelers’ touchdown drives, they had a turnover, on two separate instances, essentially pulled out from underneath them. On the first, Roethlisberger tripped over one of his lineman’s feet and fumbled a hand off. The ball had four Honolulu Blue and Silver jerseys falling over it, yet somehow the Steelers came up with the ball. Two plays later, Roethlisberger was intercepted, but the turnover was called back on a truly WEAK roughing the passer penalty. Pittsburgh scored a touchdown five plays later.
This was a Lions game that had the feeling of so many Lions games over the past five years. They played the Super Bowl champs so close, it should count as a moral victory at least. I mean, they could have won this game, for sure. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. In the end, it’s just another loss.
Loss or not, I think it’s safe to say that the Lions are no where near the worst team in the NFL anymore.
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