Detroit Lions stoic after devastating finish against Steelers: ‘It’s up to us’

Isaac TeSlaa stared at the giant scoreboard atop the southwest end zone at Ford Field, frozen in place.

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Jameson Williams stopped to watch a replay on the same screen and raised both hands in the air as if to say: “That…?” He then received a hug of condolence from Lions mascot Roary before disappearing down the tunnel.

Jared Goff approached three officials for an explanation of why the Lions didn’t get a final play after their touchdown, scored on an Amon-Ra St. Brown sideline, was called back by an offensive pass interference penalty with no time on the clock, and then walked slowly to the locker room.

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“I don’t even want to get into it,” coach Dan Campbell said. “Because it’s not going to change anything, we still lost. I mean, look, you think you score, you don’t score. And then you think you’re going to make another play, repeat it or go back, one more shot, and you’re not. And that’s it, I guess that’s how it’s written in the rule book. So it’s frustrating. But, again, it should never come to that. We had our opportunities. We couldn’t put it before that play.”

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The Lions played one of the least inspiring games of the season on Sunday, December 21, on a day when they could least afford that kind of performance.

They had 15 yards rushing, the fewest in a game not only in the Campbell era, but since November 2016. They allowed three 45-yard plays, two rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown, along with a sack for a safety. And when they couldn’t finish their captivating final drive with points, they fell to 8-7 – and on the brink of playoff elimination a season after setting a franchise record with 15 wins.

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The Lions have an 8% chance of making the postseason, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. They need to win their final two games – against the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday (and against the Chicago Bears in Week 18) and have the Green Bay Packers (9-5-1) lose their final two games – against the Baltimore Ravens and the Vikings – to earn the final NFC wild card spot.

Anything less than that and they will make the playoffs at home for the first time since 2022.

“We know the percentages and stuff,” Goff said. “We know we’re not out, but we need some things to go our way. (We’re going to) find out who we are, see if we can win these last two and see if we can get in. And we’ll be dangerous if we can, just that’s the hard part.”

The Steelers (9-6) took a 12-point lead on Jaylen Warren’s second 45-yard touchdown run with 6:41 left and had a chance to put the game away when they began their final possession at their own 34-yard line with 4:11 left.

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Twice, the Steelers went out of bounds on first down plays to stop the clock; That was followed by often reliable kicker Chris Boswell missing a 37-yard field goal from the right upright with 2:05 left, leaving the Lions enough time for a dramatic finish.

After converting a fourth-and-2 on a defensive pass interference penalty and gaining another 15 yards on a tripping penalty that negated a sack, the Lions had first-and-goal from the Pittsburgh 1-yard line with 25 seconds left as they marched back down the field.

First, rookie receiver Isaac TeSlaa was assessed an offensive pass interference penalty that nullified a St. Brown touchdown on first-and-goal after lowering his left shoulder and colliding with safety Kyle Dugger on a tackle route.

A false start penalty on Kingsley Eguakun, making his first career start in place of injured center Graham Glasgow, left the Lions with first-and-goal from the 16-yard line, and after a brief completion from Goff to Jahmyr Gibbs and an incomplete pass to Jameson Williams, TeSlaa was unable to make a jumper in the back of the end zone.

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That left the Lions with one last play on fourth-and-goal from the nine.

St. Brown lined up in the left slot and sprinted toward Steelers safety Jalen Ramsey, knocking him off balance in the end zone. Meanwhile, Goff threw a pass to St. Brown at the goal line as two officials threw flags, and cornerback Joey Porter Jr. encountered St. Brown on the catch and attempted to tackle him to the ground.

A split second before his arm hit the ground, St. Brown threw the ball to an unsuspecting Goff, who caught it and jumped into the end zone for what appeared to be a touchdown.

The officials met for more than two minutes to discuss the play before referee Carl Cheffers announced that Goff had scored a touchdown but that the play was nullified by an offensive pass interference penalty and the game was over.

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“It’s a pretty complex play,” Cheffers said in a group report. “The original player who had the ball lost possession of the ball. So, we had to decide if it was a fumble or a back pass because of course we have restrictions on recovering a fumble within 2 minutes.

“We determined it was a backward pass, so the recovering player was able to advance it and that recovering player advanced it for a touchdown. We had to rule on that and then because of the offensive pass interference, the touchdown is denied. Because it’s an offensive foul, we don’t extend the half. So, there’s no score and there’s no replay of the down. That’s how the rule is written.”

Campbell, Goff and St. Brown said they were not aware of the rule, although none questioned St. Brown’s penalty. Goff became even more upset with TeSlaa’s pass interference penalty, which he described as “a bad call.”

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“Those guys have a tough job and I don’t want to make excuses or anything like that,” Goff said. “We’ve been on the right side of a lot of these, we’ve been on the wrong side of a lot of these. I think a few plays before, TeSlaa’s was a little more, in my head, up for interpretation. But listen, man, they have to make the decisions and I promise you, if I was sitting on the other side of that right now, we’d be saying great job. But those hurt for sure and you wish they wouldn’t get called, but so be it.”

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he knew “the whole time” that the officials were discussing the final play that his team had won the game, no matter how suspenseful it was.

“It’s this time of year, man,” he said. “That’s why I love it. If you’re a competitor, you run toward these things. I think we have a collection of competitors.”

Warren ran for 143 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries, and the Steelers outscored the Lions, 230 yards to 15.

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The Lions went on a run in the second half, and seven of their 12 rushing plays went for negative or no yards.

Goff finished 34 of 53 for 364 yards and three touchdowns for an offense that struggled for most of the first three quarters.

“We’re big in this league,” Campbell said. “You pull up your pants and you go to work. And you can’t feel sorry for yourself. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, you don’t feel bad. But we have no one to blame but ourselves. It’s up to us, and it’s up to us to finish. We have two left.”

Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. follow him on blue sky, unknown and instagram at @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions stoic after devastating finish against Pittsburgh Steelers