Detroit Lions offense sputters without Golden Tate

The Detroit Lions appear to have lost their offensive firepower following the trade of their leading receiver, Golden Tate, to the Eagles last week.

Perhaps the Detroit Lions were doomed regardless. Scheduled to face last year’s divisional champions, the Minnesota Vikings at home in Week Nine, the Lions foolishly decided to trade away their leading receiver, Golden Tate, prior to the matchup. Suddenly, Detroit’s offense was a shell of itself, losing to the Vikings on Sunday 24-9.

Again, maybe the timing of the trade was simply a coincidence. Perhaps the Lions would have lost to the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium anyway, even with Tate on their roster. But missing a key player who had racked up a team-leading 44 receptions on 69 targets in their first seven games certainly didn’t help their cause.

Much of Sunday’s devastating divisional defeat in Minnesota lands squarely on the shoulders of their offensive line. This often maligned group earned that criticism this weekend, allowing quarterback Matthew Stafford to be sacked a career-high 10 times in the loss. And although Tate doesn’t play along the O-Line, he was Stafford’s security blanket and often the underneath receiver that bailed this offense out.

Some speculated that the trade of Tate to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a 2019 third-round selection this past week was a sign that the Lions had given up on the season. But that seemed illogical since the team was just one game out of first place in the NFC North. Yet, that theory now has legs as Detroit seems to be headed to a last-place finish in their divisional with a falling record of 3-5.

With the loss of Tate, it was key that the Lions replace his production. Wide receiver T.J. Jones and rookie Brandon Powell were expected to step up and do so. Jones recorded only two catches for 13 yards in the critical divisional contest. While Powell didn’t crack the stat sheet outside of two kickoff returns.

Instead, it was running back Theo Riddick that appear to benefit most from Golden Tate’s trade, racking up seven catches for 36 yards on eight targets Sunday. Unfortunately, it wasn’t near enough as the Minnesota Vikings defense tee’d off on a Detroit Lions offense without their top weapon.