DETROIT – The Detroit Lions had no answer for the Buffalo Bills on Sunday as their 11-game winning streak came to an end.
Many were calling this game a potential Super Bowl preview, as the Lions and Bills entered Sunday with the top point differentials in the league (+183 for Detroit and +129 for Buffalo).
The Bills looked every bit like a championship team, taking over Ford Field from the very start and cruising to the finish line.
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For the Lions, their slim lead in the NFC vanished, as the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to pull into a tie with Detroit at 12-2.
Detroit also lost star defensive tackle Alim McNeill to a knee injury. If he’s out long-term, it’ll be just the latest blow to an already decimated defense.
Disastrous start for Lions
The game couldn’t have gotten off to a much worse start for the Lions. They got the ball first and proceeded to go three-and-out without gaining a single yard.
Jack Fox boomed a 60-yard punt to the 10-yard line, but a 17-yard return kept the Bills from facing a short field.
Josh Allen took it from there. He carved up the Lions defense, completing two of three pass attempts for 57 yards and eventually barreling into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown.
The drive went for 73 yards on seven plays, and the Lions even got away with what should have been a 29-yard pass interference penalty in the end zone.
Detroit picked up a first down on the following drive, but a pair of sacks on first and third down ultimately forced yet another punt.
Allen avoided some pressure on the first play of the ensuing drive and completed a pass to midfield. Eight plays later, Allen walked untouched into the end zone for his second rushing touchdown to put the Bills up 14-0.
Offense wakes up, but defense can’t hold
The Lions desperately needed to answer on their third drive or avoid getting run out of their own building.
After a 2-yard loss on the first play, Jahmyr Gibbs got going with a 13-yard gain on a screen pass and a 9-yard run. A trick double pitch play ended with Jared Goff hitting Amon-Ra St. Brown for a 24-yard gain, and the Lions got into the red zone two plays later with a 13-yard Gibbs run.
Facing a third-and-9 from the 12-yard line, Goff made a great play to get outside a collapsing pocket and then hit Tim Patrick, who leapt to the goal line for a touchdown.
But the celebration was short-lived, as the defense continued to get torn apart by Allen and the potent Bills offense.
The key play of the third defensive drive was a fourth-and-2 at midfield. Allen hit a wide open Ty Johnson down the right sideline for a 31-yard gain.
Three plays later, James Cook walked into the end zone for an easy 21-7 lead.
Ben Johnson and the Lions stayed hot, though, and he did so with some unlikely heroes. After Goff kept the drive alive with a 21-yard strike to St. Brown on fourth-and-4, he channeled his inner Josh Allen and scampered for a 10-yard gain on a key third-and-10.
After the Lions got down to the 9-yard line, one of Johnson’s trick plays involving offensive linemen finally worked, as Goff hit Dan Skipper in the flat for a touchdown.
The Lions once again pulled within a score, but the elephant in the room remained the mismatch of Josh Allen vs. the Lions defense.
Lions can’t capitalize after Bills open door
It took exactly one play for the air to get sucked out of the stadium once again, as Allen launched a 64-yard pass to Keon Coleman that got the Bills down inside the 5-yard line, thanks to a roughing the passer penalty that got tacked onto the end.
But the Lions defense stood strong after a first-and-goal from the 3, thanks in part to a false start penalty on third down.
Then, Tyler Bass missed the 24-yard field goal to keep the Lions within a score.
But the Lions couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity. After marching 47 yards on six plays, three-straight incompletions forced a 52-yard field goal attempt, and Jake Bates missed badly to the left.
McNeill forced an intentional grounding penalty to help stop the Bills from scoring before the break, so the Lions trailed 21-14.
Lions look even worse after break
Halftime didn’t change anything for the Lions, as the Bills needed just four plays to march 70 yards for a touchdown to go back up 14. Cook highlighted the drive with a 41-yard scoring run.
The offense came out and couldn’t answer, going three-and-out thanks to a pair of stuffed runs and a sack.
Detroit finally managed to force a punt after the Bills went 37 yards on eight plays, but old friend Sam Martin pinned them back on their own 4-yard line.
After David Montgomery caught passes on three-straight plays to get the Lions out of the shadow of their own end zone, a St. Brown fumble gave the ball right back to the Bills in plus territory.
The Bills scored five plays later to officially put the game out of reach before the end of the third quarter.
St. Brown caught a 66-yard touchdown pass, and the Lions even put together a trio of late 70-yard touchdown drives, but it was all too late. They couldn’t get the deficit into single digits until the final 12 seconds of the game.
They ultimately fell by a final score of 48-42.
What this loss means
The Lions can still secure the No. 1 seed in the NFC if they can win their final three games against the Bears, 49ers, and Vikings. But their margin of error is gone.
Philadelphia won for the 10th time in a row to pull into a tie with the Lions at 12-2. The Vikings host the Bears on Monday night with a chance to join them.
