The Washington Commanders began Saturday night’s road divisional round playoff matchup as two-score underdogs against the Detroit Lions.
All season, the Lions have been the juggernaut of the NFL. Their powerful offense has appeared virtually unstoppable — and with so many weapons for rival defenses to care for — it was simple to see how they strolled to a (15-2) record and earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC.
After last season’s heartbreaking second half meltdown against the 49ers in the NFC Championship game, it felt like this was going to be Detroit’s year.
But a combination of arguably the best rookie QB in NFL history, an emerging defense that gives up points but forces turnovers, and a culture of belief that Dan Quinn has built led to the Washington Commanders pulling off the biggest upset of the season so far, beating the Lions 45-31 and advancing to the NFC Championship game.
On paper, the Detroit Lions looked like they should have won the game. They had 521 yards of total offense, while Washington posted 421 yards in the same category. Detroit averaged 7.7 yards per play, picking up 30 first downs on the night and went two-of-two on fourth down.
What’s the difference? Washington’s defense forced five turnovers, including a pivotal fumble early in the first half that likely swung the game’s momentum, and intercepted Lions quarterback Jared Goff four times, one of which was returned for a touchdown in the second quarter.
The Lions never found a way to slow down the Commanders offense, which punted only once on the night.
The FOX cameras panned across the faces of surprised fans in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter, and Goff and head coach Dan Campbell were visibly stunned by the outcome in post-game press interviews. It’s not that they ignored the Commanders. They simply believed they were prepared and had the better team coming in, as did everyone else before kickoff.
On Sunday night, just 24 hours after the loss, Lions rookie CB Terrion Arnold resorted to social media to deal, and the video he posted was both insulting to Washington and startling to say the least.
Arnold released a video of himself playing Madden with the Lions vs. the Commanders. He focused on the scoreboard, which read 103-0 in favor of Detroit in the first quarter. Arnold is clearly not taking the loss well.
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