Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders shocked the world.
In the process, they left Dan Campbell, Jared Goff and the NFC’s top-seeded Detroit Lions in stunned desolation.
Following the Lions’ startling 45-31 Divisional Round defeat, Campbell took to the podium, his stewardship and dejection apparent after a postseason of promise ended before it even got going.
“It just hurts to lose, man,” he said when asked if it was more difficult dealing with a loss to the No. 6 seed. “I don’t care if you’re the seventh seed, six seed, five seed, one seed. Because I’ve lost at all of them damn near, and it stings. It hurts.”
Detroit won its first-ever NFC North title in the 2023 season before embarking on its first run to the NFC Championship Game since the 1991 season. The Lions became America’s darling, an easy-to-root for squad that had resurrected a forlorn franchise.
These 2024 Lions were no longer the upstart underdogs, though, these were the NFC’s big cats.
They emerged from their regular-season finale, a win over the Minnesota Vikings to clinch the conference’s top seed, as a front-runner to win the Super Bowl — a goal yet to be fulfilled in the franchise’s long chronicle.
Following a bye’s worth of time to heal up, the Lions didn’t pounce on the Commanders, though. Their grandest hopes and aspirations were undone by a rookie dynamo and the misfortune of a staggering five turnovers.
“We were on the top of the world after that Minnesota game and it’s hard standing here right now and trying to process it all,” said Goff, who was intercepted three times and lost a fumble.
Detroit got out to a 7-0 lead following a Jahmyr Gibbs touchdown run in the first quarter. But rather than impose its will on upstart Washington, the Lions found themselves in a back-and-forth they couldn’t keep up with after a Quan Martin 40-yard interception return for a touchdown gave Washington a two-score lead in the second quarter.
“Just sucks,” Goff said. “I wish I could’ve played a little better. Wish I could’ve taken care of the ball a little bit better. Obviously, the pick-six is really the one I’d really like back. That was just a poor decision by me. The other ones are just sometimes a part of the game