In case you were stuck under a rock without the ability to log onto Twitter on Thursday night, the Green Bay Packers narrowly beat the Detroit Lions on a last-second field goal.
Even though the Cheeseheads came away with the win, many high-profile sports personalities were criticizing their concerns with the controversial officiating mistakes that the referees made to steal this game right from the Lions' paws.
Hey remember 90 minutes ago when the NFL fixed the Packers-Lions game? That was amazing.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) October 15, 2019
I’m not saying officials cost Lions the game. I’m saying three wrong calls and one obvious missed call in one half is not acceptable. Doesn’t matter who wins the game. https://t.co/cJ5USw5pQS
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) October 15, 2019
That is sickening… the @NFL needs to look at a way to prevent that from happening. Two phantom hands to the face calls really hurts us tonight. Yes, we could have scored TDs, but @Lions played too well to have the game end this way. #DETvsGB @espn
— Barry Sanders (@BarrySanders) October 15, 2019
While these are valid concerns that should cause a conversation and help the NFL start to correct their officiating issues that have plagued the league all season, as is always the case, the referees can not be solely blamed for the Lions losing this game.
There are a few weaknesses that the Lions need to address on the offensive side of the ball, and that starts upfront with the offensive line.
For the majority of the season, the Lions have been rotating Graham Glasgow, Kenny Wiggins and Joe Dahl at the two guard spots, and they made a few costly mistakes in the Monday Night match-up.
Glasgow, who going into the game was the third-ranked run-blocking guard on Pro Football Focus, had a costly false start on a third-and-8 play that led to a Lions punt. In addition to that, Wiggins gave up a third-down sack that caused another Lions punt. Those are two easily fixable mistakes that the Lions need to correct to prevent future drives leading to punts.
It was truly a tale of two halves that Lions fans are all too familiar with. The Lions came out firing in that first half, jumping out to a double-digit lead on the heels of an impressive 236-yard total offensive performance in the opening 30 game minutes.
That dominant offense was ground to a halt in the second half, as the Lions were only able to muster 63 total offensive yards compared to 247 yards from Green Bay. While the officials should be given the credit for a few of those yards, a football team should never expect to win a game posting less than 100 yards of offense in the second half.
Speaking of that first half, the Lions came out firing with two big plays in that opening half, completing a flea-flicker on the first play from scrimmage for 66 yards to Kenny Golladay and then completed a deep ball to Marvin Hall for 58 yards the very next drive.
As impressive as those plays were and as encouraging as it was to see the Lions airing the ball out successfully, they only came away with a field goal on that first drive and needed a fourth-down burst from Kerryon Johnson to score on the second drive. If they come away from both plays with touchdowns, the Packers may not have even had a chance to make that game-winning drive.
Kicker Matt Prater also cemented himself as the best long-distance kicker in franchise history last night, going 5-for-5 on his kicks to convert 15 points for the Lions, including a 51-yard make in the third quarter and a 54-yard make in the fourth quarter.
Even though the Lions should thank their lucky stars that they have a reliable kicker in Prater to bail them out of failed offensive drives, changing a few of those field goals to touchdowns would have helped the Lions win this primetime match-up by double digits.
Tweaking these small offensive miscues needs to happen in order for the Lions to compete in the NFC, especially since they are now in last place in the toughest division in football.
It doesn't help that the Lions have to play against two feared rivals in every game they play: the opposing team and the dorky guys dressed like zebras in the middle of the field.
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