The Lions spent Sunday cleaning out their lockers and reflecting on Saturday night’s loss to the Commanders rather than preparing for the NFC Championship Game.
It was a rapid change of circumstances for a 15-win team that many thought would go on to represent the conference in the Super Bowl and much of the finger-pointing about why things fell apart has been devoted to quarterback Jared Goff. Goff threw three interceptions and lost a fumble in the 45-31 loss to the Commanders that obscured much of what the quarterback accomplished to get the Lions to that point.
On Sunday, right tackle Penei Sewell said that it was unfair to pin all of the blame for the loss on Goff.
“I just don’t understand how a team sport — that people can put a blame on one person at all,” Sewell said. “It’s not like he’s the one that’s out there by himself. So, I’ll never understand it, but, again, that’s not my world, and what I pay attention to, but bullshit.”
The kind of criticism Sewell is objecting to is the nature of playing quarterback in the NFL and it is something that Goff is going to have to deal with until he has a chance to author a better outcome. That won’t be for quite a while and the result will determine whether or not Saturday night becomes the lasting memory of his NFL career.
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