Jahmyr Gibbs, Lions clobber Vikings for No. 1 seed in NFC

The Lions are the top seed in the NFC after blasting the Vikings

The Detroit Lions made an emphatic statement as to who is the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

In a game between teams that each had 14-2 records coming into Sunday  night, the Lions vanquished the Vikings 31-9 to capture the NFC North and a bye next week.

The Vikings have to go to Los Angeles to play the Rams, who won the NFC West with 10 victories. Yes, folks, the NFL revwards a team for winning its division, not having the best record when it comes to the wild-card round.

The 14-2 Vikings will be at the 10-7 Rams a week from Monday.

The Lions got four touchdowns from Jahmyr Gibbs and rattled Sam Darnold en route to the victory at Ford Field.

Lions tune up for Vikings by toppling 49ers

The Lions down the 49ers and are ready to meet the Vikings in a huge regular-season finale

The Detroit Lions had a tussle as they got ready for the Week 18 main event agains the Minnesota Vikings.

Detroit went into San Francisco and outscored the 49ers, 40-34, on Monday night.

One of the key players was Kerby Joseph, who had two interceptions. While that is good, what is concerning is an injury-riddled Niners team went over the 400-yard mark in total offense in the loss.

The defeat was the 49ers’ 10th of the season. They played in the Super Bowl last season and now have double-digit defeats. It reminds of the 2003 Raiders, who went 4-12 after going to the Super Bowl and losing to the Bucs in 2002.

Jared Goff threw for better than 300 yards and three touchdowns in the win. Jahmyr Gibbs had 117 rushing yards and a TD.

Detroit scored 27 points in the second half after trailing 21-13 at the break.

The Niners got 100-yard receiving games from Ricky Pearsall and George Kittle.

The difference was six points. 49ers kicker Jake Moody missed two field goals and a PAT. Ouch.

Next up is the mother of all regular-season contests for Detroit. The Lions host the Vikings on Sunday night.

There are 14-win teams playing for the No. 1 seed in the NFc with the team thatloses the game knowing it will be a five-seed and going on the road against a divisional champ with fewer wins than it in the first round of the playoffs.

Lions sign high school coach as backup quarterback

Teddy Bridgewater is back with the Detrot Lions

The Detroit Lions dipped into the high school ranks on Thursday to sign a backup quarterback.

Not as strange as it seems when the player is Teddy Bridgewater, whose Northwestern Senior high school won the Class  3A Championship in Florida this sason.

Bridgewater was the Lions’ backup QB in 2023. He has been with six teams in his NFL career.

Jared Goff fakes fumbling, throws TD pass for Lions

The Lions went schoolyard for a TD against the Bears

Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson should have saved this for a bigger game.

Check it out as the Lions RB hits the turf and Jared Goff stumbles after taking the snap, appearing to fumble.

The Bears fell for it and Goff threw a TD pass to Sam LaPorta. The Lions had doubled up the Bears, 34-17, with the game in the fourth quarter.

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The Buffalo Bills downed the Detroit Lions on Sunday in a high-scoring affair. The second loss of the season for the NFC North leaders also proved costly as they lost several players to injury. At the top of the list would be running back David Montgomery, who is out for an extended period.

Update: Lions HC Dan Campbell said RB David Montgomery will undergo season-ending knee surgery. “We’re going to miss him,” Campbell told reporters.

David Montgomery injury update

Montgomery suffered an MCL injury in the defeat. He has formed a great 1-2 punch with Jahmyr Gibbs and his absence will impact the Lions’ rushing attack. Montgomery has 775 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.

Also injured in the game were Carlton Davis (DB), DL Alim McNeill (leg) and CB Khalil Dorsey (leg)

Dan Campbell quote

“Know more tomorrow. I don’t feel good about either one of those guys,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said after the loss to Buffalo. “Normally if I’m like saying ‘I don’t feel good,’ that means not good for the rest of the year, so don’t feel good about it.”

How long will David Montgomery be out?

Dorsey and  McNeill are lost for the season. Montgomery’s absence is more in flux and will be monitored by the team. He could be lost for the season, too, but it is too soon to tell. Davis had surgery on his jaw and could be out six weeks.

Lions RB depth chart

Montgomery and Gibbs were a 1-2 punch for the Lions. Craig Reynolds and Sione Vaki will have to pick it up in Montgomery’s absence

All 6-foot-9, 330 pounds of Dan Skipper catches TD pass for Lions

A big man touchdown for Lions offensive lineman Dan Skippper

The CBS broadcast explained all the different risky plays Dan Campbell had taken for the Detroit Lions since 2021. A few players later, the coach and OC Ben Johnson went to a trick play and had a touchdown.

Offensive lineman Ben Skipper, 6-foot-9, 330 pounds, lined up at tight end as an eligible receiver. He blocked, ran a short route and Jared Goff rolled out and saw his huge target wide open.

Skipper caught the pass like he was Amon-Ra St. Brown and rumbled into the end zone. After the PAT, the Lions trailed 21-14.

It was Skipper’s 54th career game and his first career touchdown.

Lions edge Packers in seesaw thriller on last-second field goal

The Detroit Lions edged the Green Bay Packers on a last-second field goal

‘Cause I got to ramble (ramblin’ man)Oh I got to gamble (gamblin’ man)I got to ramble (ramblin’ man)Know I’m a ramblin’ gamblin’ manOh, oh, just a ramblerYeah, yeah, I’m just a gambler — Bob Seger

The great rock Hall of Famer Bob Seger has company in Motown as a gamblin’ man. Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell kept taking chances and everything came up right in the end of a 34-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Thursday at Ford Field.

Faced with a fourth-and-short in the final minute, rather than kicking the field goal and leaving Green Bay time to come back, Campbell kept his offense on the field.

A lineman stepped on Jared Goff who fell to the turf as he was handing off to David Montgomery. The running back took the football, gained the first down and Campbell’s plan had worked.

Jake Bates kicked a 35-yard field goal as time expired and the 12-1 Lions had their 11th straight victory. The Packers fell to 9-4, three games back of Detroit in the NFC North with each team having four to play.

Goff threw for 283 yards and  three touchdowns, including two to Tim Patrick, who had not caught as scoreing pass since 2021 with Denver.

For Green Bay, Josh Jacobs ran for 66 yards and scored three rushing touchdowns.

The Lions led 17-7 at halftime but Green Bay scored two quick touchdown in the third quarter to take a 21-17 lead.

Starting with that touchdown, the NFC North rivals traded the last six scoring pl;ays of the game with Detroit coming up the winner thanks to Campbell’s gutsy call and Bates’ clutch kick.

Bears botch final seconds in three-point Thanksgiving Day loss to Lions

The Bears botched the final half-minute of their loss to the Lions

The Chicago Bears had driven into Detroit Lions territory from inside their one-yard line.

A drive was saved by a defensive pass interference penalty after an offensive pass interference penalty set the Bears back.

They had a timeout left and faced a third-and-26 with time running down.

Somehow, the team that finds ways to lose discovers another way to lose at the end of the game. Improbable but Caleb Williams or the sideline didn’t call timeout as the clock ran down.

Instead, Williams threw a long pass that went incomplete and by the time it landed the clock read 0:00.

The Detroit Lions had a 23-20 victory despite allowing all of Chicago’s points in the second half.

The Lions are 11-1 and the Bears are 4-8 in a season that has gone awry.

The only possible line of thinking from Bears coach Matt Eberflus on the sidelines is he was prerserving the timeout in case a pass was completed on the field of play.

That would have allowed the Bears to send Cairo Santos on the field for a possible game-tying field-goal attempt.

However, when your rookie quarterback has lost control of the scene and clock you have to call the timeout and tell him to either complete a pass on the sidelines so it can go out of bounds or throw it away.

Instead, Eberflus let his Bears throw away another game.

Jack Fox with perfect punt for Lions to pin Bears inside the 1

Jack Fox of the Lions with a spectacular punt

The Chicago Bears were giving the Detroit Lions quite a game on Thanksgiving.

The basement team in the NFC North was only down 23-20 to the division leaders late in the fourth quarter.

Jack Fox was called upon to deliver a punt that would leave Chicago in bad field position — make that awful field position.

Fox boomed a punt and when a Lions special teamer downed it, the ball was inside the one-yard line.

There was a sliver of green between the cleat of Khalil Dorsey and the goal line.

The Bears needed to go 99 yards for a possible game-wining TD or get close enough for Cairo Santos to try for a field goal that could force overtime.

Lions WR Jameson Williams hurdles Bears DB Kevin Byard III on end around

Jameson Williams turned an end around into a highlight-reel play

The Detroit Lions have cleared most obstacles in this 2024 season. On Thanksgiving, wide receiver Jameson Williams cleared another, Chicago Bears DB Kevin Byard III.

Willams took the football on the end around and went airborne as he saw the 5-foot-11, 212-pound Byard in his way.

The run went for 15 yards and the drive concluded with a Jared Goff TD pass to Sam LaPorta.

After the PAT, the Lions led 23-7 late in the third quarter.