Lions' Playoff Hopes Plummet After Crushing Loss to Steelers

The Detroit Lions lost a second-consecutive game and are now in facing elimination from the postseason.

Detroit struggled mightily to get going, ran just three plays in the third quarter and couldn't climb out of a hole in the second-half en route to a second straight loss. In dropping to 8-7 on the year, the Lions lost consecutive games for the first time since 2022.

Now, the team's playoff hopes are on life support sitting three games out of first-place in the NFC North. Detroit has just a six percent chance of making the playoffs according to the New York Times Playoff Predictor and the NFL's Next Gen Stats.

With the Bears leading the division at 11-4 and the Lions now at 8-7, Detroit is mathematically eliminated from the NFC North title race. The Lions had won it each of the last two years, but will not be division champions in 2025.

The Lions now have one path into the postseason. They will need to win out, and the Green Bay Packers will need to lose out. Green Bay hosts the Baltimore Ravens at 8 p.m. Saturday, while the Lions play the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Christmas Day.

"Yeah, I mean, not even just this week but other opportunities we had earlier in the year. We dug ourselves in the hole that we're in," offensive lineman Taylor Decker said after Sunday's game. "That's the heartbreaking but beautiful thing about this league. You've got to go out and earn it every week. It doesn't matter if we won 15 games and were the one seed last year. Nobody cares. I've played enough football to know that at this point. It doesn't make it any easier, if anything it makes it harder, because as it's happening I know that we can't put ourselves in this position, but we just didn't play well enough."

In Week 18, the Lions travel to Chicago to take on the division-leading Bears while the Packers travel to Minnesota to play the Vikings.

Detroit held a 10-3 lead late in the first half, but an improbable grab by Kenneth Gainwell tied the game going into the break. Pittsburgh dominated the third quarter, limiting the Lions to just three plays in the entire quarter with one being a safety as they sacked Jared Goff in the end zone.

Pittsburgh made it 15-10 with a field goal early in the fourth, then 22-10 on a 45-yard run by Jaylen Warren. Detroit would cut it to 22-17 with a touchdown from Goff to Kalif Raymond on fourth-down, but the Steelers once again answered on another 45-yard run by Warren.

Detroit inched back into the game on a touchdown pass from Goff to Jahmyr Gibbs, then Pittsburgh missed a field goal to give the ball back to the Lions with 2:05 remaining and one time out. The Lions drove all the way down the field, but had two touchdowns negated by offensive pass interference including a bizarre final sequence.

On the final play of the game, Goff completed a pass to St. Brown a yard short of the goal line. St. Brown was stood up, and lateraled to Goff as he was going to the turf. While Goff was able to reach the end zone and the play was ruled a touchdown, it was ultimately negated by offensive pass interference after St. Brown pushed off on Steelers cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

The puzzling chain of events leaves the Lions a game farther back in its playoff chase, and now their backs are against the wall.