Instant observations: Too many penalties, coaching miscues doom Lions in buzzer-beating loss - mlive.com

DETROIT -- The Lions say they love playing on Thanksgiving. Their actual performances continue to say otherwise.

Quarterback Jared Goff gave them an early 7-0 lead with a long touchdown pass in his return from an oblique injury, before an injury to D’Andre Swift, an avalanche of penalties, more conservative playcalling from Dan Campbell, and then a major coaching gaffe in the final minutes undid them in a 16-14 buzzer-beating loss against the Chicago Bears at Ford Field.

The Lions took a 14-13 lead on a touchdown pass to T.J. Hockenson in the third quarter, but had a fourth-quarter series doomed by three straight penalties, the second time in the game that happened. Then Chicago ate up the rest of the clock -- all 8-and-a-half minutes of it -- with a final possession where Detroit just couldn’t get off the field. That includes on a third-and-9 where the Lions were flagged once again, this time for taking back-to-back timeouts, an unconscionable communication mistake.

Chicago quarterback Andy Dalton moved the chains with a 7-yard pass on third-and-4, and Cairo Santos came on for a chip shot to beat Detroit as time expired.

The Lions have now lost five straight games on Thanksgiving and 14 of 18 overall, including a 41-25 laugher against an awful Texans team last year that led to the dismissal of Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn over the holiday weekend. And a year later, the new regime is still searching for its first win at all.

Detroit is 0-10-1, its worst start since the winless 2008 season, and has gone winless in 15 straight games overall, the longest skid in the league. The club still hasn’t won a game since last Dec. 6, when then-interim head coach Darrell Bevell replaced Patricia and led the Lions to a dramatic comeback win in Chicago.

And 355 days later, they still haven’t won again -- and counting.

This was always expected to be a long season, as the Lions tore apart their roster -- including trading their best player, quarterback Matthew Stafford -- in pursuit of a wholesale rebuild. Campbell has drawn rave reviews for keeping the team together and playing hard through these difficult early days with a decimated roster, although his playcalling continues to come into question since taking over those duties from offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn three weeks ago.

Campbell called super conservative games in his first two outings with the headset, and opened it up only sparingly in Jared Goff’s return from an oblique injury on Thanksgiving. Goff did hit Josh Reynolds with a 39-yard touchdown pass on the offense’s first series, opening up a 7-0 lead, and connected on his first 12 passes overall. But he still relied heavily on a steady diet of short passes near the line of scrimmage, and didn’t manage to hit 100 yards passing until the second half.

Penalties also remained an issue, including spoiling a scoring opportunity in the first half with three straight penalties by T.J. Hockenson, Evan Brown and Jamaal Williams that backed Detroit into a third-and-32. Then Campbell called yet another draw play, to a torrent of boos from fans who are justifiably angry at the number of possessions Campbell is lighting on fire with runs up the middle in long-distance situations.

The Lions still gave themselves a chance with Goff’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Hockenson in the third quarter, which gave them a 14-13 lead. But then their flag-ridden ways came back to haunt them in the fourth quarter, when offensive linemen Evan Brown, Tommy Kraemer and Taylor Decker picked up another three straight penalties. That backed them into another second-and-32 -- and wouldn’t you know it, Campbell called another draw play, to another round of bloodthirsty boos.

On third-and-an-acre, they ran a short pass for Kalif Raymond at the line of scrimmage. Another possession lit on fire. More boos. With an offense as bad as this, you’d think the Lions might consider valuing their possessions. Guess not.

The Bears made them pay, eating up all the remaining clock with an 18-play drive that culminated with Santos grabbing his pitching wedge for a 28-yard pitch shot. With that, Campbell’s first win slipped through his hands yet again. He’s now winless through 11 games, just one off the team record set by Marty Mornhinweg in 2001.

Let’s get to some more instant observations:

-- The Lions are so talent deficient that they just don’t have much room for error. Yet they continue to commit a comedy of errors almost weekly, and a mountain of them turned the momentum in the second quarter. After taking a quick 7-0 lead and getting a couple defensive stops, Detroit was in Chicago territory with a chance to pad its lead. Instead, T.J. Hockenson (false start), Evan Brown (holding) and Jamaal Williams (false start) committed penalties on three straight plays to back the Lions into a third-and-31. They punted, Jared Goff fumbled on the next series, and Chicago reeled off 13 straight points to finish the half. The Lions were flagged five times in the first half alone, not counting holds against Penei Sewell and Tommy Kraemer that were declined.

Then in the second half, they committed another hat trick of penalties when Brown (false start), Tommy Kraemer (holding) and Taylor Decker (holding) were flagged on consecutive plays. That backed them into another second-and-32, and led to another punt. And they never touched the football again -- due in part to the back-to-back timeouts they tried to call when Chicago was facing a third-and-9 in the final seconds. Half the secondary wasn’t in the right defense, and Dan Campbell opted for the timeout -- and penalty -- rather than giving up the touchdown.

Given the moment, the score, and that they were coming out of a timeout to get aligned, that’s just bad coaching, horrible communication, and an unconscionable mistake that helped cost them a game they should have won. Again. This coaching staff has done so much good stuff to keep the team together through some dark days, but they deserve a ton of blame for the mounting mistakes in recent weeks.

-- Speaking of that third-and-31, for the love of all that is holy, can we please get a moratorium on draw plays on third-and-long? Think of the children watching at home, Dan Campbell. Think of the children. They are our future, Dan, and should not be subjected to the horror of run after run after run after run on third-and-long, week after week after week after, well, you get the idea. It happened twice last week, including on a critical third-and-14 in the final 3 minutes. Then it happened again on that third-and-31 in the first half against Chicago, to ravenous -- and deserved -- boos from the Ford Field crowd. Those are surrender plays. I get that Jared Goff has struggled this season and doesn’t have many viable targets to throw to, but, like, at least try something downfield. Anything. Anything at all. Because lighting series on fire isn’t going to win many games with an offense like this.

-- Goff returned to the field after missing one game with an oblique injury. He completed his first 12 passes actually, one of which was that 39-yard bomb to Josh Reynolds, which he put on target despite getting hit at the release. But he still had fewer than 100 yards passing in the first half because basically everything else was within the shadow of the line of scrimmage. Nobody is more conservative than Jared Goff in this offense, and while it gave Detroit a shot to win the game in the fourth quarter, it still wasn’t enough, just like every other week this season. It’s just a bad offense, piloted by a bad quarterback who doesn’t seem to process the field well. Goff finished 21 of 25 passing for 171 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. It was the first time he’s passed for multiple touchdowns in a game since Week 4, also against Chicago, also a loss.

-- The last quarterback to win a game for the Lions not named Matthew Stafford: Yep, still Shaun Hill, all the way back in Week 16 of the 2010 season.

-- Three weeks after he was claimed off waivers, Josh Reynolds finally delivered something good. He opened the game with a 16-yard catch that moved Detroit into Chicago territory, then outran the defense for a 39-yard touchdown that gave Detroit a quick 7-0 lead. At 6-foot-3, Reynolds was supposed to offer some badly needed long-ball capabilities to a Lions receiver corps that has been led by slot men like Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kalif Raymond, although he went 0-for-3 on his targets in his first game last week. His 39-yard TD against Chicago indeed was the longest of the season by a Lions receiver, and he finished with a team-high 70 yards on three catches.

-- Safety Will Harris got the start at slot cornerback for A.J. Parker, who went on injured reserve this week. With a long week ahead, perhaps it’s time to consider other options. Harris had a nice third-down pass breakup on the game’s first drive, but melted down in the second quarter, allowing a 52-yard touchdown to Darnell Mooney before blowing an assignment on the ensuing touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham. Austin Bryant was furious with him on the field, and it’s easy to understand why. Harris has just made so many more negative plays than positive plays throughout his Lions career. It’s time for a change.

-- Cornerback Amani Oruwariye hasn’t always played great this season, and he’s occasionally played pretty badly, but he does always seem to find himself in the right place at the right time. He picked off another pass on Thanksgiving, this one in the end zone to spoil a Chicago scoring opportunity in the second quarter. That’s five interceptions on the season for him -- all of them coming in the last nine games -- something no Lions player has done since Darius Slay in 2017. Oruwariye did drop another potential pick in the end zone, but still has eight of them through 36 career games. No Lions player has done that since Bruce McNorton and Bobby Watkins in 1982-84.

-- With Frank Ragnow in street clothes until next season, it’s not unreasonable to say Jack Fox is this team’s best player. On the national stage, he didn’t disappoint. New punt returner Jerry Jacobs muffed a first-quarter punt, which buried Detroit inside its own 5-yard line. After three straight runs went nowhere, Fox punted with his heels on the shadow of the end line -- and boomed a 70-yard punt that might still be rolling if Bobby Price hadn’t downed it thinking the ball was live. That’s OK. It was still the fourth-longest punt in team history, and it made Fox the first player in team history with four punts of at least 67 yards. Considering he’s been in Detroit for only 27 games, that’s pretty good. All hail the Punt God.

-- Riley Patterson became the fourth kicker deployed by the Lions this year, following Austin Seibert, Ryan Santoso and Aldrick Rosas. Seibert is on injured reserve, which forced Santoso into action, although he missed two kicks in the tie against Pittsburgh, including a PAT that helped force overtime, then a would-be winner in the extra period. So the Lions turned to Rosas last week, who made a PAT and field goal, before turning once again to Patterson on Thanksgiving. That’s a mouthful. At some point, after cycling through a half-dozen kickers this year, you have to wonder if the Lions would have been better off just ponying up for Matt Prater.

-- The Lions estimated they served 35 gallons of cranberry sauce, 25 gallons of cranberry BBQ sauce, 75 gallons of gravy, 300 pounds corn on the cob, 400 pounds of green beans, 1,000 turkey legs, 1,100 pounds of stuffing, 1,300 pounds of turkey, 2,000 pounds of mashed potatoes and don’t forget 2,500 slices of pie on Thursday.

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Instant observations: Too many penalties, coaching miscues doom Lions in buzzer-beating loss - mlive.com
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