Getty Matthew Stafford escapes the pocket vs. the Bears.
The Detroit Lions had arguably the ugliest loss of anyone during Week 1, collapsing late, making some bad NFL history and beginning another season with a thud.
As a result, most would expect the Lions to have a miserable showing in the league power rankings, perhaps even being one of the lowest ranked teams in the league. The news, however, was not all bad for the team on one intriguing list.
NFL.com columnist Dan Hanzus put together his first look at the power rankings heading into Week 2 of the 2020 season. Detroit was on the outside looking in when it came to the most elite teams, of course. Interestingly, however, the Lions actually moved up a pair of spots on Rank’s list to the No. 28 position from No. 30. They even remained ahead of a 1-0 team in the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Hanzus wrote:
“Just a horrendous setback for the Lions, who melted down in the fourth quarter and allowed a Bears team led by Mitchell Trubisky to steal a win in the opener at Ford Field. According to Next Gen Stats, Detroit’s win probability was at 98.3 percent late in the final stanza, but the Lions — man, the Lions — they’re just one of those teams that always finds a way. Allowing Trubisky to throw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter was bad; D’Andre Swift’s egregious drop as he backpedaled into the end zone in the final seconds was supernatural in its ghoulishness. These are the rare types of stomach-punch losses that can submarine an entire season.”
Detroit’s loss could indeed tank their season eventually, but it is very early still on the year. If the Lions do manage to win some games, they might see these ratings turn around further and they may be able to surge upward as it relates to their standing.
For now, they’re still low in the league, but they didn’t bottom out after a very bad start in everybody’s mind.
Lions ‘Turning Page’ Following Loss
Offensive tackle Taylor Decker, now a team captain, isn’t going to consume himself with the past, and Sunday afternoon’s defeat represents the past now. Speaking to the media on Monday, Decker said that while it might be easy to dwell in the past, Week 1 isn’t going to be the determining factor of how the 2020 season turns out.
“At the end of the day, we wanted a win,” Taylor Decker said. “But the whole season doesn’t come down to how Week 1 went.”
Matt Patricia echoed those sentiments as well. As he said, learning and growing from the experience remains the most important thing at the moment.
“It’s important that we learn from today, get going, flip the page and have another good week of practice,” Patricia told the media. “It’s kind of where we’re at right now.”
Detroit fans were frustrated following yet another late game collapse, this one which made some NFL history. No matter the circumstance, the Lions seem to be destined to ignore what happened and focus only on the future, which is Week 2 against the Green Bay Packers.
Adrian Peterson: Lions Loss ‘Temporary Setback’
Following the heartbreaking loss, Peterson was nothing but positive on social media. As he tweeted, Detroit’s 27-23 defeat is only a temporary setback that the team can learn from in order to get better and stay on track in 2020.
More than his leadership, Peterson was great on the field for the Lions, racking up 93 yards rushing in his debut. Few runners hit the hole like Peterson even as a veteran, and he showed off that ability in a big way in the game. Perhaps the only unfortunate development was how inconsistently the Lions used Peterson most of the afternoon. At times in the late stages, they went away from the run with Peterson far too much relative to how it worked.
Detroit hasn’t started strong, but there is hope both within the team and perhaps the NFL community that a rebound is in order soon.
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