INGLEWOOD, CA – Matthew Stafford never won a division title in his 12 seasons as Detroit Lions quarterback, and he might have dealt a knockout blow to his old team’s chances of winning a third straight NFC North crown Sunday, Dec. 14.
Stafford threw for 368 yards and two touchdowns and Kyren Williams ran for two more scores as the Rams dominated the Lions in the second half to become the first NFC team to clinch a playoff spot with a 41-34 victory at SoFi Stadium.
Stafford led three third-quarter scoring drives and the Rams (11-3) erased a 10-point second-quarter deficit to win for the eighth time in nine games.
The Rams forced three-and-outs on the Lions’ first three second-half possessions and outscored the Lions, 24-10, in the second half. The Rams scored 20 unanswered points from the final play of the second quarter through late in the third quarter, turning a 24-14 deficit into a 34-24 lead.
Stafford, who played for the Lions in 2009-20, threw two touchdown passes to tight end Colby Parkinson in the second half, 26 yards late in the third quarter and a game-clinching 11-yarder with 4:49 to play.
Rams fans serenaded Stafford with chants of, “M-V-P,” after the second score.
Jared Goff completed 25 of 41 passes for 338 yards and three touchdowns for the Lions. Amon-Ra St. Brown had 13 catches for 163 yards and two scores, and Jameson Williams had seven catches for 135 yards and one touchdown just before halftime.
The Lions (8-6) traded Stafford to the Rams for Goff and three draft picks in 2021, and beat L.A. in the 2023-24 playoffs and the 2024 season opener, both at Ford Field.
Here are three thoughts on Sunday’s game:
Lions playoff odds
The Lions are still in the playoff mix with three games to play, but they likely need to win out to make the postseason. They host the Pittsburgh Steelers next week (4:25 p.m., CBS), and close the season with road games against the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears.
The Lions’ playoff odds are 41%, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. The Lions are 4-5 in their past nine games, alternating wins and losses after a 4-1 start.
The Bears (10-4) dominated the Cleveland Browns, 31-3, on Sunday, and moved back into first place the NFC North after the Green Bay Packers lost 34-26 to the Denver Broncos.
The Lions trail the Bears by two games and are essentially two games back of the Packers (9-4-1).
The Lions need the Bears to lose at least one of their next two games – the Bears visit the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17 – and need to win their season finale in Chicago to pass the Bears in the playoff standings. If the Packers lose to the Bears next week, the Lions would need to win out and have Green Bay lose at least one of its final two games (against the Baltimore Ravens and Vikings) to pass the Packers in the standings.
The Rams are the favorite for the No. 1 seed in the NFC, but the Seattle Seahawks (11-3) and San Francisco 49ers (10-4) are hot on their heels in the division race.
Third and long
The Lions took a 24-14 lead late in the first half on Goff’s 31-yard touchdown pass to Williams, but let the game slip away with a disastrous next 15 minutes.
Stafford led the Rams on a five-play, 47-yard field goal drive to end the first half – Puka Nacua beat D.J. Reed for a 37-yard catch on the drive’s big play – and the Rams scored points on their first three drives of the second half to take a 34-24 lead. Nacua had nine catches for a career-high 181 yards.
Parkinson’s first touchdown came on a disputed play, when replays appeared to show he was down just before the goal line but officials ruled he bobbled the ball on his way to the ground and secured possession only after he crossed the goal line. But the Lions did nothing on offense to answer L.A.’s hot star to the second half.
After the Rams took a 27-24 lead, the Lions went three-and-out on a long incompletion to Williams, a sack and another incomplete pass. Fill-in left guard Trystan Colon allowed the sack and another pressure on the impletion to Williams, and the Rams scored in two plays on the ensuing possession to take a 10-point lead.
As well as Goff, St. Brown and Williams played, the Lions had little rushing attack. David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs finished with 70 yards combined on 20 carries, while the Rams ran for 159 yards as a team.
Hutch’s house
Aidan Hutchinson’s instincts in the screen game are second to none.
He made a beautiful play for his first interception of the year to thwart the Rams’ opening drive. Hutchinson was rushing off left when he recognized Parkinson was releasing him from a block. The Lions’ defensive end halted his rush mid-stride and lunged to pick off a Stafford pass to the Rams tight end.
Hutchinson hasn’t made many game-altering plays the second half of the season. He had 1½ sacks in the five games preceding Sunday. But his excellence is due in part to his ability to impact the game so many ways.
He’s the Lions’ best pass rusher – he had one sack Sunday to give him 9½ on the season. He’s an above-average run defender. And he has five interceptions in his four-year career. That’s an impressive number for a defensive end.
Julius Peppers holds the modern record for most picks by a defensive lineman with nine, according to StatMuse, and it’s possible to think Hutchinson, 25, could pass that, given the trajectory of his career.
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