DETROIT – Not much could have gone worse for the Detroit Lions in their embarrassing loss to the Baltimore Ravens this weekend, and while nobody should panic about one bad performance, there is one major takeaway.
We should stop talking about the Lions as a potential No. 1 seed in the NFC. They clearly don’t belong in that conversation just yet.
In the NFL, it’s not uncommon for even the best teams to have off weeks. Sometimes they even get blown out. But I’m not sure I’ve seen a Super Bowl-caliber team look quite as bad as the Lions did in Baltimore.
Coming into this week, the Lions had bullied four opponents in a row, tying the best record in the league at 5-1 and looking every bit a top-tier contender in the NFC.
But Lamar Jackson and the Ravens exposed some major flaws. The Lions couldn’t get pressure on defense, and when they did, they couldn’t bring down Jackson before he found open receivers. Most teams don’t have a quarterback that good, but inconsistency along the defensive line has been a concern long before Week 7.
The secondary also took yet another blow, as Jerry Jacobs suddenly appeared on the injury report and was inactive with a knee issue. Detroit has been hit particularly hard in the secondary, and losing Jacobs was the final straw that opened the defensive flood gates.
On offense, the line couldn’t protect Jared Goff, and the running game stalled without starter David Montgomery. Goff salvaged some stats with the Ravens backing off in garbage time, but when it actually mattered, the Lions couldn’t even get a first down to stop the bleeding on defense.
The Lions are clearly still the favorites in the NFC North Division. That did not change. Green Bay took a bad loss to the Denver Broncos and fell into a second-place tie with the Minnesota Vikings -- a full 2.5 games behind the Lions.
But the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers are in a whole different class. Philadelphia hosted the 5-1 Miami Dolphins on Sunday night and took care of business, while the 49ers visit the Vikings on Monday.
Should Lions fans root for San Francisco or Minnesota? Most will probably say the Vikings, because the division lead will remain at two games and they want to hang onto the dream of finishing ahead of the 49ers. But chasing that top seed seems like wishful thinking.
Nobody will do to the 49ers or Eagles what the Ravens did to Detroit. Those two teams came into the season as the class of the NFC, and they’ve done nothing to lose that title.
Detroit has an extra day to regroup and get ready for Monday Night Football against the Las Vegas Raiders. Win that game to get to 6-2 heading into the bye week, and everything will be fine. The ship will be back on course.
But for now, Lions fans might want to back off those dreams of a No. 1 seed. You’re getting ahead of yourselves. This is a really good team, but there are already two sheriffs in town.