The Detroit Lions dropped a must-win game, 29-24, to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, leaving the team with a specific and unlikely path into the playoff field. It is a path that has been made more difficult by Detroit's surprise issues running the football. While much has been made of the recent defensive issues facing the Lions, the more glaring problem has been the inability keep their defense off the field with the run game. With Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery rostered, this is supposed to be one of the league's most consistent rushing attacks.
Instead, in the biggest game of the season thus far, the Lions could only manage 15 rushing yards while giving up 230 on the ground. It was domination that was an extension of the previous week's struggles with the Lions mustering only 70 rushing yards on 3.5 per carry against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 15.
Pride of Detroit's Al Karsten highlighted this fact, sharing on X that the "Detroit Lions Rushing Success Rate Since Week 13, Offense: 36.9% (30th), Defense: 46.4% (28th). One of the worst teams in the trenches over the past month."
This paints an extremely bleak picture for fans hoping that the Green Bay Packers will collapse and the Lions will be able to go on a magical run. The best teams in the league can win in the trenches, and right now, not only is that not the case for the Lions, but they are one of the league's worst.
Lions Inability to Run the Football Likely to Halt Faint Playoff Hopes
Quarterback Jared Goff has been asked to play hero ball each of the past two weeks behind an offensive line that cannot buy him much time. Still, the quarterback has put up a combined 58 points during that stretch, giving Detroit a chance to win. Unfortunately, the team fell short in both weeks by a single score, highlighting how close the margin of error has been.
It is easy to argue that if the Lions' rushing attack had been even league average over the last two weeks, we'd be having a much different conversation. Instead, Detroit's playoff hopes have been reduced to winning out and relying on the Packers to fall in both of their final contests. This seems incredibly unlikely, even if the Lions had a balanced offense going into the season's final two weeks.
Now, Detroit is fighting an uphill battle, unable to control its own destiny and attempting to change the fate of the season without the benefit of a reliable rushing attack. While all the pieces remain in place for the Lions, this season has been another frustrating disappointment. One that displays the obvious needed offensive changes and has highlighted the loss of two talented corners that helped carry the Lions over the previous two seasons.