The Detroit Lions' season ended in surprising fashion on Saturday night, as the Washington Commanders came into Ford Field and left with a 45-31 Divisional Round victory. Washington was simply better in virtually every way, earning the upset.
Let's rip the band-aid off with our (however abbreviated) winners and losers from the Lions' season-ending loss.
1 winner (and 2 losers) from Lions' Divisional Round loss to the Commanders
Loser: Jared Goff
If not for how awful Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold was in Week 18, everyone would have noticed how bad Goff was in that game. The Lions' signal caller was not afforded that luxury on Saturday night, as Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels was excellent while Goff accounted for four turnovers (three interceptions and a lost fumble).
A brutal hit from Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu on a pick-six led to Goff being evaluated for a concussion and leaving the game for a series. It's fair to wonder if he was 100 percent right afterward, but he wasn't playing well beforehand. Over 100 of his 313 passing yards came after Washington took a 45-28 lead in the fourth quarter.
A couple bad games doesn't erase all the good Goff did this season. But he was darn close to the worst version of himself in the biggest of spots, when a loss would send the Lions to Cancun.
Winner: Jahmyr Gibbs
Gibbs' first four touches on Saturday night went like this: 15-yard run, 23-yard reception, nine-yard run, one-yard touchdown run. He added a second rushing score later, as he totaled 105 yards on 14 carries along with six catches for 70 yards (8.8 yards per touch). There's an argument 20 touches was not nearly enough, but the Lions trailing by at least 10 points through the entire fourth quarter impacted that.
Gibbs paid off an excellent second season with yet another big performance. Too bad more of his teammates weren't similarly on-point.
Loser: Defense
We could nitpick each area of the Lions' defense that failed against the Commanders, and every area undeniably failed, but that feels like a lot to process. Injury exits to Amik Robertson, Brian Branch (briefly) and Ifeatu Melifonwu were not helpful, but no one is immune from criticism when you allow 45 points and 481 yards of offense (6.6 yards per play) in a game. Overall, there were just too many mistakes for an injury-depleted unit to overcome.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn didn't leave a good last impression on teams who may be looking to hire him as their next head coach. But there's only so much he can do with who he had available, and losing Robertson on the second play of the game changed things for the worse right off the bat. Kindle Vildor, as we learned during last year's playoff run, is not anywhere close to a starting-caliber NFL cornerback.
All the injuries the Lions had on the defensive side of the ball this season was bound to fully catch up with them at some point. That point was Saturday night.