Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell watches a play against Washington Commanders during the first half of the NFC divisional round at Ford Field in Detroit on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025.
The Detroit Lions lost 45-31 to the Washington Commanders on Saturday night, ending their dominant 2024-25 season in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
The Lions fell short of their postseason performance from last season, giving up a chance to redeem themselves in the NFC Championship.
Though they were the betting favorite on Saturday, the injuries sustained throughout the season to the defense and costly turnovers quickly put them in a hole they couldn’t dig themselves out of.
Here are some quick takeaways from the game:
Playing into Washington’s hands
The Lions didn’t appear to make much of an attempt to counter the pace that the Commanders like to move at. A sound strategy would’ve been to slow this game down to keep them off the field, but a pass-happy strategy, even before the game started slipping away, allowed Jayden Daniels to stay on the field.
Jared Goff deserves some level of apprehension
Lions quarterback Jared Goff had an outstanding regular season, but games like this one, where he was a little too careless with the football — and his well-known struggles when under pressure — are right to leave fans concerned about his future if and when offensive coordinator Ben Johnson leaves.
He should remain the starter for the foreseeable future, but there is plenty of reason to be apprehensive.
Wanted: Pass Rushers
It’s been repeated all season long — the Lions need better (and healthy) pass rushers.
The lack of pressure with four rushers proved to be their Achilles heel all season, and Saturday night only furthered that narrative as Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels carved the Detroit defense up on blitz attempts.
Coaching was not an issue this time
On the bright side, the Lions did not lose this game based on a monumental coaching blunder or backbreaking strategic decision.
The loss falls on the defense’s inability to keep up. There were mistakes and adjustments that could’ve been better, without a doubt, but there’s no reason to look at Dan Campbell and think he could’ve done something vastly different.
Future is still bright
All of the Lions’ key playmakers are firmly under contract for next season. The return of Aiden Hutchinson will be an obvious upgrade for the defense, regardless of how the defensive coordinator situation shakes out.
The plan should be to target free agents on defense and get a premier pass rusher to pair with Hutchinson to start to have a unit that can coincide with the offense.
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This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: 5 quick takeaways from Lions’ playoff loss vs. Commanders
