Lions fans are hopefully enjoying the week off from Detroit football. The bye in Week 6 comes at a much-appreciated time for the 1-4 Lions, who have suffered several critical injuries along the way to possessing the NFL’s worst defense.
The week off gives us a chance to look back at what happened in Week 6 a year ago. It’s a game most fans will not want to remember.
The title of the postgame recap says it all,
“Lions get embarrassed in punchless loss to the Bengals”
Cincinnati scored its biggest road margin of victory in seven years in smoking the Lions, 34-11. It was 27-0 Bengals at the start of the fourth quarter, and it was only that close because the Lions defense somehow came up with three straight 3-and-outs in the second quarter,
This is not a game anyone in Detroit will want to remember. The offense was completely overmatched by the Bengals defense. A decided lack of aggression from QB Jared Goff played into Cincinnati’s hands, but there is more than enough blame to share around the Lions locker room. Cincinnati was well-prepared for everything Detroit tried to do in the limited range of which Goff will attempt at quarterback.
Goff completed 28 of his 42 passes for just 202 yards. The Lions offense ran the ball for 36 yards on 18 carries, a total that saw D’Andre Swift gain exactly 10 yards on his final 10 carries. Detroit had no answer for Bengals QB Joe Burrow throwing to RB Joe Mixon or TE C.J. Uzomah, either.
The loss dropped the Lions to 0-6, making them the final winless team in the league in 2021. Detroit would lose the next two before its bye to fall to 0-8. A tie with Pittsburgh broke the losing streak, but the record dropped to 0-10-1 before Dan Campbell’s Lions finally scored their first victory.