In the Detroit Lions’ last two runs to the playoffs under Dan Campbell in 2023 and 2024, they did not lose back to back games at any point. While they still have a lot of work to do to replicate making the NFC Championship Game in ‘23 or being the conference’s top seed like in ‘24, they took a huge step in the right direction towards at least making the playoffs by keeping this streak alive on Thursday at home versus the Dallas Cowboys. If the Lions do go on to the reach the playoffs, it would be their first time doing so three seasons in a row since 1993-95, and the win that has them in much improved position to do this has the Cowboys at severe risk of missing the playoffs for two seasons in a row for the first time since 2019-20. This was the final year of Jason Garrett’s tenure, and then the first year of Mike McCarthy’s time as head coach.
Thursday night had big implications between two teams trying to carry momentum into December, but the Cowboys were not quite up for the challenge of winning in a hostile road environment. In yet another road loss for Brian Schottenheimer, a concerning trend has carried over from his time as offensive coordinator under McCarthy, and that is the Cowboys offense being more passive and executing at a lower level on the road compared to at home.
Although the Cowboys showed some good fight to make this a game until close to the end, settling for field goals on their first three scoring drives, and turning the ball over on two of the other three drives in between, put Dallas in position to chase the game all night. The speed of the Lions was too much to catch figuratively and literally at times, with the Lions offense getting the touchdowns they needed to lead by as many as 18 in the second half, and the defense teeing off on Dak Prescott once the Cowboys were in desperation passing mode.
The Cowboys’ three-game winning streak is over, but their body of work over the last four games with wins at the Raiders, versus the Eagles, and on Thanksgiving against the Chiefs, still stands as something they can build on for the future. With the loss in Detroit though, that future is looking strongly like it will be 2026 until the Cowboys can resume any talks of being in the playoffs. They will be counting on an even deeper collapse by the Philadelphia Eagles to save their small hopes of reaching this year’s postseason.
The Eagles play on Monday night against the Chargers this week having lost two in a row, and it will be the Cowboys hosting the Chargers in two weeks after they stay in NFC North play and host the Vikings next Sunday night. Both of those games look more winnable for the Cowboys than at previous points this season, making this Lions game one they needed to play with their best intensity and focus of the season, They fell well short of doing so.
A Cowboys defense has not given up at least 40 points to three opponents in one season since 1962. Thursday night marked the second year in a row the Lions offense, playing against a different but familiar defensive coordinator for the Cowboys, scored 40 against Dallas, this time only winning by two scores, 44-30, but winning 47-9 in Arlington last season versus Mike Zimmer’s defense. In franchise history, the Cowboys have never won a game when their opponent scores at least 40 points (0-48-1), something that does not bode well for the way Matt Eberflus’ defense in year one has been susceptible to these types of games.
These teams trading field goals to start the game was like two boxers trading body blows in the first round of what expects to be a long fight, which this game was. The ease at which the Lions got downfield compared to how difficultly things came at times for the Cowboys offense was a theme that continued all night though, with the body blows tiring out the Cowboys before the Lions could land second half knockout punches.
Both sides converted on third down at a similar percentage, but the Cowboys facing 15 attempts compared to just eight for the Lions tells the story of early-down efficiency the Cowboys never found to open up their offense. Dallas had to overcome a 2nd-and-15 on their opening drive after a swing pass to Javonte Williams lost five yards, an area of their passing game they’ve really struggled to get any running back involved. Compared to the Lions gaining 45 yards in consecutive plays on one run and a pass to Jahmyr Gibbs on their first drive, the 3-3 score early in this one still leaned towards the home team. It was Quinnen Williams getting pressure in Jared Goff’s face that helped James Houston finish a third-down sack that held Detroit to that first field goal, but the Lions finished four other trips to the red zone with touchdowns compared to 1-3 on the night for the Cowboys.
The impact the Dallas interior defensive line could make in this game was limited by their struggles up the middle at linebacker and safety, and Detroit getting the ball out quickly to attack these second and third level defenders while keeping the front four at bay.
Gibbs ran through both Kenneth Murray and Donovan Wilson at the point of attack to score his first of three touchdowns and put the Lions ahead 10-3, capping off a drive that started at the Cowboys’ 42-yard line. The Lions flipped the field after getting a stop, and near safety sack from Jack Campbell, after a Trikweze Bridges holding penalty on a punt. Bridges was also caught in coverage against Amon-Ra St. Brown for the longest play of the ensuing scoring drive of 26 yards.
The Lions winning the battle of field position definitively was a huge reason they got the win they needed. They started past their own 35-yard line six times, scoring 31 of their 44 points on these drives. The Cowboys did get 10 points out of their two drives starting at the 35 or better, but settling for a 63-yard field goal after George Pickens was called for offensive pass interference on the drive immediately after Sam Williams’ blocked field goal still kept the Lions up eight. The Cowboys did draw within three to make things really interesting after this point, but by the time another costly (and controversial) offensive pass interference penalty on Jake Ferguson in the red zone led to another field goal, they were down seven again and couldn’t get one more stop.
There were only three 3-and-outs in this game, but it was yet another area the Lions gained an edge despite going 3-and-out twice compared to just once for the Cowboys. Nate Thomas allowing the near-safety sack led to a Lions touchdown after the Cowboys’ only 3-and-out, also wasting a 3-and-out stop by the Dallas defense. Thomas allowed another sack on the following drive with the Cowboys trailing 10-3, a drive that had another poorly played screen attempt to Williams that went incomplete. Dallas settled for a field goal to cut the lead to 10-6, and earned their last 3-and-out defensively by making a short yardage stand after Gibbs gained 13 yards on 2nd-and-15. The Cowboys were set up to reclaim the lead, especially after CeeDee Lamb made a 38-yard catch on the first play, but this drive would end in disaster with Ferguson’s fumble. The Lions overcame a 1st-and-25 and got a 34-yard touchdown from David Montgomery to answer the fumble with more points, creating the biggest swing in this game and leading 17-6.
The Cowboys were playing a losing battle of kicking field goals and allowing touchdowns at this point, and even the next field goal they allowed was costly before halftime. Another negative play from Ferguson blocking against Aidan Hutchinson and being called for hands to the face negated a pass interference penalty on the same play by the Lions against Pickens that would have set up 1st-and-goal. Dallas settled for yet another field goal to have a chance at going to the locker room down just eight, but the Lions had enough time to go back up by 11 with their own field goal to end the half. Shavon Revel had a key PI penalty on this drive, and the Lions would go after Revel in coverage more in the second half to keep the game at an arm’s length away from the Cowboys.
The Cowboys lost the turnover battle in this game 3-0, as the Lions intercepted a tipped slant pass for Pickens on the very first play of the second half. They cashed in a touchdown, throwing to rookie Isaac TeSlaa who got behind Revel to lead 27-9. TeSlaa was behind Revel at the end of the first half for a would-be touchdown if Goff didn’t put the ball out of bounds, but this time was alone in the end zone to gash the Dallas defense for another big play. The touchdown throw to TeSlaa from Goff was the type of play the Lions offense was able to create for their quarterback more consistently that Schottenheimer could for Prescott, who was without CeeDee Lamb down the stretch of this game and didn’t see Pickens take over in nearly the way he’s capable of.
Once the Cowboys rallied all the way back to make it a three-point game, Gibbs ran right through Murray and Wilson again for a touchdown on a drive set up by a Jameson Williams crossing route against man coverage that put him against Markquese Bell. Not only did Detroit expose the mismatch on third down, they got 15 extra yards for roughing the passer on the play. Gibbs’ third and easiest touchdown to seal the game also came off an explosive pass play to St. Brown off play-action.
The Cowboys stars did not play nearly well enough to win this game on the road, but this game was won by the home team maximizing their stars against depth players for the Cowboys. The Lions looked every bit the type of team capable of competing until the end in another brutal NFC North race. By hanging tight at times, the Cowboys may find silver linings that they are this type of team as well, and have only the Eagles to worry about in the NFC East, but Thursday night also exposed how much room is left to grow in all three phases for Dallas to be a serious contender.
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