DETROIT: The Detroit Lions, led by quarterback Jared Goff, defeated the Los Angeles Rams 24-23 at Ford Field to win their first home postseason game since 1991.
In his return to Detroit, former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford (now with the Rams) suffered a setback in Sunday’s wild-card round victory. The first half saw both sides come out fire, with the Lions leading 21–17 at the break.
The winner of the “Monday Night Football” game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+) will face the Lions in the divisional round of the playoffs, where they are seeded third.
The Lions hosted a home playoff game in Detroit for the first time in thirty years, and the sold-out crowd was electrifying. The NFL’s longest active postseason victory drought came to an end when the Lions defeated the Rams, with a large number of former players and celebrities supporting them. Since their divisional round victory over the Dallas Cowboys in 1991, they had not won a postseason game.
Positive trend: the defence end Aidan Hutchinson kept up his excellent performance. With two sacks and four quarterback hits in the final two games of the regular season, Hutchinson put a lot of pressure on Stafford.
Largest gap in the strategy: Stafford exploited the secondary defence in the first half. The Lions gave up seven passing touchdowns with more than 25 yards of air during the regular season, which was second most after the Washington Commanders (11). They lost two to the Rams on Sunday. Receivers Puka Nacua (50 yards) and Tutu Atwell (38 yards) both scored touchdowns on passes from Stafford.
QB breakdown: Before kickoff, fans showed their admiration for quarterback Jared Goff by chanting “Jared Goff” throughout the building. This was before he faced the quarterback (Stafford) that he was traded for in 2021. Goff was 9-of-9 through the game’s first two drives, averaging 5.3 air yards, and he had not been pressed or left the pocket.
