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The Detroit Lions raced out to a 14-3 lead against the Green Bay Packers, but quickly collapsed in time to trail 17-14 by halftime. They never regained their footing and now they’re in the record books.
As a result of this latest loss, the Lions now stand alone in NFL history as the only team to have blown 4 straight games in which they led by double digits. If that isn’t enough, the Lions have now lost 11 straight games, which is the most since they were 0-16 in 2008.
Detroit has been close plenty the last few seasons including Week 1, but close is no longer going to cut it for a coaching staff and team who’s top goal this season was to get the job done and apply the dagger, if you will.
It’s never good to evoke blown leads in combination with 0-16, but now that’s just what the Lions have this year.
Lions Week 1 Defeat Also Historical
Coming into today’s game, entering a fourth quarter with a 17 point lead or more all but assured victory for a team in the last 14 years. That was the case until the Lions came along and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, something they’ve become accustomed to doing throughout their history.
As Warren Sharp pointed out, NFL teams had won an incredible 779 games since 2006 with such a commanding late lead. Detroit’s defeat was only one of less than a handful in that mark, which is a gaudy number to consider that proves epic comebacks aren’t exactly the norm in the NFL.
If there was ever going to be a team that would fall into the worst possible 1% and lose, however, it would be the Lions. It’s true the team seems to invent new ways to frustrate and disappoint their fans, and this is just merely the latest example and quite possibly the cherry on top.
Even when there’s a 99% chance at victory thanks to a double digit lead, it can officially be said that the Lions don’t have things sewn up enough to feel comfortable. It’s a sobering thought for fans.
Lions Fourth Quarter Failures Under Matt Patricia
The Lions haven’t been great at finishing games under Patricia during his tenure. Case in point, last season, Detroit blew a 24-6 lead against the Cardinals and ended up tying the game. This year, the mark was 23-6 in the season opener. While 2019 was a tie, this was an ugly defeat.
Leading into the 2019 season, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell met with the media and talked about the offseason and where the team is trending in 2020. Still, that didn’t prevent him from casting an eye back to 2019. When it came to that, Bevell explained that the Lions were much, much closer to breaking through than most on the outside may have thought last season.
As he cited, the team led in 10 games in the 4th quarter last season. In those games, they were 3-7-1. Even a modest improvement in that record would have meant the Lions being a much better team in terms of the season they had.
Bevell’s takeaway? The Lions simply have to be able to focus and finish games this coming season, especially late in the final quarter. Typically, the Lions have been an excellent team late in games, earning the reputation as comeback kids during Matthew Stafford’s tenure as quarterback. The challenge now is to develop a mindset where they can better protect leads and put away games they should win.
So far, not so good when it comes to 2020 as the Lions are badly on the wrong side of history.
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