Week 13 seems like a distant time ago for still being in December. That was a glorious Sunday for the Detroit Lions.
The Lions smoked the Jacksonville Jaguars back on December 4th. The 40-14 romp in Ford Field was the Lions’ biggest win of the season. The outcome was never really in doubt as early as the second quarter.
Sound familiar?
Yeah, unfortunately it does. The Lions were on the other end of the beating on Saturday in the 37-23 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Much like Detroit’s triumphant victory three weeks earlier, the outcome was decided very early. One team played great, the other laid a massive egg.
While time is now short for the Lions, head coach Dan Campbell and his team can still draw upon how the Jaguars handled the terrible loss.
Since that day in Ford Field, the Jaguars have been one of the NFL’s best teams. No, really. They blew out the AFC South-leading Tennessee Titans in Nashville the next week, 36-22. Doug Pederson’s Jaguars followed that up by pulling off a comeback upset win over the high-flying Dallas Cowboys on a pick-six in overtime of a game they once trailed 27-10. This past Thursday night the Jaguars seized control of their own playoff fate by blitzing the Jets, 19-3.
Three wins in a row, all against teams that had non-losing records when the Jaguars devoured them. And Jacksonville did that in a way Campbell’s Lions can replicate in their final two games.
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The Jaguars have rebounded thanks to a rededication to the run game, creating takeaways on defense and playing with a confidence that sets a tone of expectation to win.
In the ensuing three wins, Jacksonville has eight takeaways on defense, creating a plus-4 turnover margin. They’ve run the ball for 399 yards after netting just 208 in the prior three games, including 95 in the loss to Detroit. Those facets of game play closely resemble what the Lions did in their surge upward over the last two months but were completely in absentia in Week 16.
As for the confidence part of the equation, that falls on Campbell and the Lions coaches. Detroit, even more than Jacksonville, is a very young team without any real history of overcoming adversity. Proving they can handle a rough setback by going out and beating a bad Bears team — Chicago has lost 11 of its last 12 games — would go a long way for this coaching staff and these players. Detroit should feel angry about the sloppy play on Saturday, but also focused on finishing out the season like the team that stormed into Week 16 having won six of its last seven. Those Lions are still there and ready to roar the same way the Jaguars have since Detroit destroyed them and delivered what seemed a catastrophic blow to their budding playoff hopes.
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