Three and Out: Sunday's loss reminiscent of another, offense's biggest concern and is there more urgency to make a deadline move?
Allen Park — Here are three observations after a second viewing and a night to ponder the Detroit Lions’ 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
We’ve seen this before
Forgive me, I’m experiencing a touch of deja vu. Watching this loss unfold, another jarring defeat from the Dan Campbell era kept coming to mind.
In 2023, the discombobulated Green Bay Packers came to town having dropped five of their past seven games. Quarterback Jordan Love, in his first year as a starter, was completing fewer than 60% of his passes with a subpar 83.8 passer rating, and the 8-2 Lions came into the day favored by more than a touchdown.
The Vikings similarly arrived as an 8.5-point underdog, having dropped three of four, with a first-year starter at QB completing fewer than 60% of his throws.
Yet the NFC North foe worked the Lions over then and now.
In both games, each team scored a touchdown on its opening drive, but the opposition’s relentless pass rush proved to be Detroit’s downfall. The Packers didn’t rely on the blitz the way the Vikings did on Sunday, but they overwhelmed Detroit’s blocking just the same, pressuring Jared Goff on 52.0 of his dropbacks.
Goff still managed to post a 108.4 passer rating on Sunday. It was better than 100 in the loss to the Packers, as well. The box scores don’t mesh with the eye test, which revealed a quarterback dealing with a sped-up clock, leading to a number of errant throws, even on some of the completions, limiting YAC opportunities.
Make no mistake about it, the bullies were bullied on Sunday, in both trenches. The Lions failed to get consistent push in the ground game and couldn’t prevent their quarterback from being overwhelmed by interior pressure.