Lions' Dud Means Bad News for Raiders

Lions will be highly motivated to bounce back in Week 8 against Raiders.

Embarrassing. Pathetic. Pitiful. 

Those are just a few of the adjectives that aptly describe the Lions' 38-6 loss to the Ravens Sunday. 

Lamar Jackson and Co. were in control of the game from start to finish, dominating in every facet imaginable. 

Detroit was the far inferior team, and looked the furthest thing from a five-win team that is presently in control of the NFC North division.

Jackson was nearly peerless, as he completed 21-of-27 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns. He also contributed another 36 yards and an additional score as a runner. He looked like the very definition of an MVP-caliber passer, and recorded a near-perfect QBR of 94.9. 

Jackson helped the Ravens gain 9.1 yards per play, plus outgain the Lions in total yardage, 503-337. 

Meanwhile, Baltimore's defense constantly exerted pressure against Jared Goff, sacking the veteran quarterback five times and limiting him to an anemic QBR of 14.8. 

It was complete and utter domination from the AFC North-leading Ravens. Or as Lions head coach Dan Campbell put it ever so bluntly in the postgame, Baltimore "kicked (Detroit's) ass." 

"Lamar beat us. He hammered us with his arm. He threw the ball extremely well. He ran when he needed to, and we did not handle it well," Campbell added. "Our energy was good, which is crazy. You come out of a game like that, and you look at the score, our energy was good. But, our detail and discipline, which has been so good over the last four or five weeks, was not good enough.”

As bad as the loss was, it was just one game in a long season. And, it's important to remember that other teams have gone through a rough week in the middle of a year in which they have made the playoffs. 

Take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for example, which lost by 35 points – 38-3 – to the New Orleans Saints in Week 9 of the 2020 season. It happened to be the same season in which the Tom Brady-led Buccaneers won 11 games and hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.

There's also the 1991 Lions which lost by 32 points – 35-3 – in a Week 8 matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. Those same Lions proceeded to win the now defunct NFC Central division and a playoff game.

So, there is precedent for an NFL organization to experience a lopsided defeat amidst a strong season. 

And, strange but true, Detroit's deflating loss to the Ravens Sunday may have just been what the team needed. 

Prior to the Week 7 setback, Detroit was riding high, having won five of its first six games. The impressive start to the 2023 season had fans and pundits alike talking about the Lions not only making the playoffs, but also making a deep run in the postseason (perhaps even all the way to the Super Bowl). Yes, people were talking about the once hapless Lions, a team without a playoff win since '91, making their very first Super Bowl appearance.  

Undoubtedly, the Super Bowl buzz surrounding Detroit will not be nearly as prevalent now. And, that's a good thing, because it probably shouldn't have been a realistic topic even prior to the beatdown the Lions just suffered against Baltimore.

Detroit still has holes at multiple positions, most notably at wide receiver and in the pass-rush department. And, those areas of weakness are what separate Campbell's squad from the NFC's elite: the 49ers and the reigning conference champion Eagles. 

Subsequently, the Lions' loss to the Ravens – the team's first defeat on the road this season – should serve as a major wake-up call to the organization that it doesn't belong in the same conversation yet as the NFC's aforementioned two best teams. Detroit general manager Brad Holmes still has work to do in order for the franchise to reach that next level.

In the meantime, Campbell hopes the "butt-kicking" gets his team to re-focus its efforts on playing a winning brand of football.

“It’s here, it happened, (and) it’ll motivate us moving forward,” the third-year head man said in the postgame. “The shame would be if we don’t use this to get better for next week and it bleeds over into the Raiders (on Monday Night Football). That would be the ultimate shame.”

This season, the Lions have already shown the ability to recover from a demoralizing loss, too. After beating the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL season opener, Detroit – not to mention its fans – entered its home opener against the Seattle Seahawks with a ton of swagger. 

In the minds of many fans and analysts, there was no way that the Lions were going to drop the Week 2 contest. This was going to be the year that Detroit finally beat the Seahawks, after five straight losses to Pete Carroll & Co. (including two consecutive defeats with Campbell leading the way). 

But, then the game was actually played, and Detroit, for a second straight year, was unable to slow down Seattle quarterback Geno Smith. The Lions went on to allow 37 points in the overtime loss. 

It was the definition of a deflating defeat for Campbell & Co. in front of a raucous, capacity crowd at Ford Field. The Lions of yesteryear would've failed to get past such a letdown, and would've proceeded to go into a tailspin. 

To the credit of Campbell's team, though, it got right back on track and used the Week 2 loss as extra motivation to convincingly beat the Atlanta Falcons at home the following week.  

If Detroit has truly turned the corner as a franchise, it also won't let Sunday's loss carry over to its contest with the Las Vegas Raiders next Monday. This Lions team also has already made it known that it's out to prove that its ugly Week 7 showing was just a "hiccup" in a marathon of a season.

For Detroit second-year EDGE Aidan Hutchinson, the loss to the AFC power will serve as an extra source of juice for him against the Raiders.

“I’m sure everyone’s going to count us out once again, and we love it," Hutchinson expressed after the Lions' setback against Baltimore. "We live there, and it’s nothing foreign to us. We’ll see what everyone says after next week, after we get back and get rolling again.”

These Lions aren't your father's or grandfather's Lions that would've been unable to withstand and bounce back from a letdown like Sunday's against Baltimore.

These Lions, led by the likes of Goff and Hutchinson, are built differently. They're a highly motivated and resilient bunch that is wired to overcome adverse circumstances. 

"We've been through a whole lot worse than this," Goff said of the Week 7 loss. "This was a tough game, (and) we got our butts kicked. But, this group has had a lot of adversity, and this is kind of our first taste of getting kicked in the teeth this year. And, we need to respond the right way."

Campbell's squad is already ready to put its loss to the Ravens as far back in the rearview mirror as possible. To me, it means that Detroit is going to come out more fired up than ever before in its primetime tilt with the Raiders in Week 8. If you're a Las Vegas fan, that should be a very scary thought.

So, Raiders fans, let me apologize to you in advance. You're about to be on the receiving end of a beatdown from a pissed off Lions team next Monday night.