Jared Goff

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell said Friday quarterback Jared Goff is "highly unlikely" to play in Sunday's Week 16 game against the Atlanta Falcons after being placed on the NFL's reserve/COVID-19 list on Monday.

Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network reported Tim Boyle would draw the start over fellow reserve David Blough if Goff is ruled out. 

The Lions' starting QB was among the record-setting 47 players placed on the NFL's reserve/COVID-19 list on Monday.

Acquiring the two-time Pro Bowler made sense for the Lions heading into the 2021 season. Matthew Stafford was on his way out the door, leaving them in need of a new starting quarterback.

The front office gave itself a full year to see whether Goff could be a long-term solution and turn his career around following a disappointing end to his Los Angeles Rams tenure.

Things haven't changed much for the 27-year-old in the Motor City. Through 13 games, he has thrown for 3,007 yards, 17 touchdowns and eight interceptions. It's becoming increasingly clear the Lions will probably need to look toward the 2022 NFL draft for their next quarterback.

As much as Goff has struggled, Detroit's QB situation gets pretty dire without him.

Boyle started in a Week 11 loss to the Cleveland Browns, finishing 15-of-23 for 77 yards and two interceptions. Blough is the other alternative, and his last cameo saw him throwing for 984 yards, four touchdowns and six interceptions over five games in 2019.

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list Monday, putting his status for Sunday's game with the Atlanta Falcons into question.

The 27-year-old has completed 67 percent of his passes for 17 touchdowns to go with eight interceptions in his first year with the Lions, which acquired him from the Los Angeles Rams in an offseason trade that sent longtime Detroit signal-caller Matthew Stafford to L.A.

Things haven't gone well for the six-year NFL veteran and the rebuilding Lions, who are 2-11-1 thus far.

However, expectations were low for Detroit to begin with this season as the team started from scratch with a new general manager (Brad Holmes), new coach (Dan Campbell) and new quarterback in Goff.

The University of California product has only missed one game due to injury, and that was a Week 17 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals to cap the 2020 season.

A broken right thumb sidelined him then, but he was able to return for the team's playoff run, which ended with an NFC Divisional Round loss to the Green Bay Packers.

If Goff is unable to play Sunday, the next man up on the depth chart is Tim Boyle, who made his first NFL start when he suited up for the Lions in a 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Nov. 21 in lieu of Goff (oblique).

He completed 15 of 23 passes for 77 yards and two interceptions. It was Goff's first and only missed game of the season as he returned on Thanksgiving against the Chicago Bears.

David Blough is behind Boyle on the depth chart. The Lions also have Steven Montez on the practice squad.

The race for the NFC West is suddenly a lot more interesting after the Arizona Cardinals were stunned in a 30-12 loss to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Sunday. 

Since starting the season 7-0, the Cardinals have dropped four of their last seven games. They could fall into a tie atop the division standings if the Los Angeles Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday. 

Notable Game Stats

• Kyler Murray, QB (AZ): 23-of-41, 257 yards, TD, INT; 4 carries, 3 yards
• Chase Edmonds, RB (AZ): 6 carries, 53 yards
  
• Christian Kirk, WR (AZ): 9 receptions, 94 yards, TD
• Jared Goff, QB (DET): 21-of-26, 216 yards, 3 TD
• Craig Reynolds, RB (DET): 26 carries, 112 yards; 1 reception, 5 yards
• Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR (DET): 8 receptions, 90 yards, TD
  

Nothing is going right for head coach Kliff Kingsbury's squad at the moment. Their offense had 74 total yards with three punts, one turnover on downs and a kneel down in five possessions in the first half. 

Kyler Murray had another interception today giving him six in his last five games played. 

The Cardinals did start to move the ball in the second half. Their first possession in the third quarter gained nearly as many yards (64) in the first half, but the Lions held them to a field goal. 

Arizona's defense, which entered today ranked fourth in points allowed per game (19.4), got dissected by Jared Goff. The Lions quarterback tied his season high with three touchdown passes. 

Even though the Cardinals offense found a spark in the second half, the unit was never entirely cohesive. 

Trailing 27-6 early in the fourth quarter, Murray found Antoine Wesley in front of the end zone on 4th-and-6 for what would have been a 30-yard touchdown, but Wesley only got one foot inbounds. 

After the defense forced a punt on Detroit's ensuing possession, Murray put together his best drive of the game to get the Cardinals into the end zone. He completed seven of 11 attempts for 75 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown to Christian Kirk. 

There was only 4:46 remaining in the fourth quarter at the time of that score. Kingsbury burned all three of his timeouts on the Lions' next possession, but a 13-yard pass interference penalty against Marco Wilson on 3rd-and-7 gave Detroit a first down. 

Riley Patterson capped off Detroit's drive with a 45-yard field goal to extend the lead to 30-12 with 2:46 left to play. Kingsbury waived the white flag at that point by inserting McCoy at quarterback to run out the clock. 

There was a question of what the Cardinals would look like on offense without DeAndre Hopkins. The star wideout is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season to have surgery on a sprained knee, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. 

Hopkins suffered the injury during Arizona's 30-23 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday. 

Kirk did have a season-high nine catches for 94 yards and a score. A.J. Green was targeted eight times but only managed 64 yards on four receptions. 

Arizona's offensive line isn't helping matters. Murray was hit four times and sacked twice in the loss. 

Things are only going to get tougher for the Cardinals offensive line with games against the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys in the next two weeks. 

The Lions appear to have found something at running back with Craig Reynolds. The 25-year-old had a career-high 112 rushing yards on 26 carries on Sunday after racking up 83 yards on 11 carries last week against the Denver Broncos. 

Since going winless in the first 11 games, head coach Dan Campbell's team has now won two of their last three. There's still a lot of work to be done in this Lions rebuild, but he seems to have complete buy-in for the process from this roster.     

The Detroit Lions got their Christmas present a few weeks early.

The team earned its first win of the season Sunday as Jared Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown in the end zone as time expired to seal a 29-27 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Goff said in his postgame interview the Lions had "just been begging for one."

That desperation seemed evident when head coach Dan Campbell decided to go for it on 4th-and-1 with his offense backed up at its 28-yard line. 

With the Lions holding a 23-21 lead at the time, a first down would've allowed them to eat precious clock time. Instead, this happened:

The Vikings took the lead on a touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Justin Jefferson with 1:50 remaining, and it looked like Detroit bumbled its way into an 11th defeat. Campbell's squad had lost five one-score games entering Sunday.

This time, the Lions finally encountered some good luck.

All year they've been slightly better than their record indicated, and their effort level hasn't dropped much as the misfortune piled up. Even if it felt at times as though the football gods were intentionally spiting Campbell, it seemed as though they'd eventually get into the win column.

Now that it happened, the first-year head coach shed a massive weight from his shoulders:

In 2019, the Miami Dolphins lost their first seven games as they embarked on a total rebuild under head coach Brian Flores. They closed out with a 5-4 record over their final nine contests to serve as a springboard toward a 10-win season in 2020.

Maybe Campbell can inspire a similarly strong finish in the Motor City to change the narrative for the Lions in 2021.

The Detroit Lions will not go winless this season.

Dan Campbell's squad got its first win of the 2021 campaign with a 29-27 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. On a 4th-and-2 with four seconds left on the clock, Jared Goff tossed an 11-yard touchdown to wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to seal the win.

The Lions led the Vikings for most of Sunday's contest, jumping out to a 20-6 lead before halftime. However, Detroit nearly blew it, allowing Minnesota to charge back and take the lead with 1:50 remaining in the game before Goff sent the hometown crowd into a frenzy with his touchdown pass to St. Brown.

The veteran quarterback completed 25 of 41 passes for 296 yards, three touchdowns and an interception in the win. St. Brown was Detroit's best receiver, finishing with 10 catches for 86 yards and a score. T.J. Hockenson and Brock Wright also combined for 77 yards and two touchdowns.

Before Sunday's win, the Lions had been the only winless team in the NFL. They had lost three games on field goals as time expired, including a 19-17 loss to the Vikings earlier this year. In addition, the Lions had not scored more than 20 points since Week 1.

Sunday's win marked Detroit's first victory since Dec. 6, 2020—a span of 364 days. The team is now 1-10-1 on the season.

But while the Lions now have one win under their belt, things won't get much easier for them through the final stretch of the season. Detroit will face the Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks before closing out the year against the Green Bay Packers.

The Cardinals (10-2) and Packers (9-3) are Super Bowl contenders, while the Broncos enter Sunday's contest against the Kansas City Chiefs with a winning record at 6-5. And while the Seahawks and Falcons have losing records, they've been much better than Detroit this year.

Regardless, all that matters for Lions fans is knowing the team didn't go winless this year. In addition, they'll still get a top pick in the 2022 draft and will continue to rebuild in the seasons ahead.

There may be long-term questions for the Chicago Bears, but they at least figured out a way to defeat the winless Detroit Lions.

Chicago beat Detroit 16-14 in Thursday's NFC North clash at Ford Field. Andy Dalton led the way for the victors, who improved to 4-7 on the season and snapped a five-game losing streak even though starting quarterback Justin Fields was sidelined by a ribs injury.

The Bears marched down the field to end the game while facing a one-point deficit, and Cairo Santos drilled the winning field goal as time expired.

Jared Goff threw two touchdowns for the Lions, who fell to 0-10-1 on the season and could finish without a win once again after doing so in 2008.

Notable Player Stats

• Andy Dalton, QB, CHI: 24-of-39 passing for 317 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
• Darnell Mooney, WR, CHI: 5 catches for 123 yards
• Jimmy Graham, TE, CHI: 2 catches for 34 yards, 1 TD
• Jared Goff, QB, DET: 21-of-25 passing for 171 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs
• Josh Reynolds, WR, DET: 3 catches for 70 yards, 1 TD

Clutch Drive Wins it for Dalton, Bears

The on-field results took a backseat for the Bears leading up to Thursday's game.

Fields suffered cracked ribs during Sunday's loss to the Baltimore Ravens, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. What's more, Mark Konkol and Jeff Arnold of Patch reported Tuesday that this would be Matt Nagy's last game, although the head coach told reporters it was "not accurate."

Rapoport also reported Nagy likely will not be fired during the season, but the coaching situation overshadowed any storylines on the field going into the matchup with the Lions.

Things got even worse for the Bears when star linebacker Roquan Smith was ruled out with a hamstring injury, and Dalton threw an interception in the end zone near the end of the first half to spoil a promising drive that could have allowed the visitors to seize control.

Still, the veteran quarterback had Chicago in the lead in the second half thanks to two field-goal drives and a touchdown strike to Jimmy Graham. The defense also played well for stretches, recovering a Jared Goff fumble and bouncing back from Detroit's touchdown on its opening drive.

Yet it was the offense that was under the spotlight, and it looked bleak when the second half started with a missed field goal and two punts.

That's when the offense took over, though, using the final eight minutes and 30 seconds over the course of 19 plays in a dominant drive that helped erase a week's worth of bad headlines. Dalton was efficient and put the ball where it needed to be, and Santos buried the winning field goal in the clutch.

Lions Offense Doesn't do Enough in Win

It's hard to script a better opportunity for Detroit's first win than what it faced Thursday.

The Bears trotted out their backup quarterback and had questions circulating about their coaching situation. Throw in the fact that the game was at Ford Field, and the Lions appeared primed to finally notch a 2021 victory.

Their opening drive did nothing to change those feelings, as Goff unleashed a perfect strike to Josh Reynolds for a deep-ball touchdown to start the scoring. However, things took a turn for the worse from there when running back D'Andre Swift was ruled out with a shoulder injury, Goff lost a fumble and the offense stalled for a number of punts.

It wasn't like Detroit was facing Chicago's best defenders either, as Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks were both out, while Smith exited during the game.

Many of Goff's throws were the safe, underneath variety, although he gave the Lions the lead late in the third quarter. His second touchdown throw of the game went to T.J. Hockenson after he found an opening in the corner of the end zone, and the Lions took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter.

Yet Detroit punted on its final drive in that fourth quarter and never got the ball back because of the Bears' long drive.

While the Lions were unable to get the key defensive stop at the end of the game, 14 points against a Chicago defense that was missing Mack, Hicks and Smith was not good enough to finally get a win.         

What's Next?

Both teams are home in Week 13, when the Bears face the Arizona Cardinals and the Lions host the Minnesota Vikings.