Playoff teams don't lose these kinds of games Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 20 December 2010 They just lost to the Lions. As if one tasering wasn't enough this week, the Bucs' playoff chances were stunned Sunday afternoon, 23-20 in overtime, one of the all-time worst Bucs losses. There's no other way to spin it. They just lost to the Lions. They lost to a team that has personified losing in recent years. They lost to a 10-loss team starting a third-string quarterback. They lost at home to a team that had lost 26 road games in a row. The Detroit Lions won the coin toss in overtime and elected to knock the Bucs as close to oblivion as you can get. The Bucs are just not good enough. There's no shame in that, coming off 3-13. But it's really that simple. Yes, other playoff contenders had a bad Sunday. Up in New York, they're thinking there is no excuse for the Giants losing to the Eagles. And the Saints lost at Baltimore. "It's certainly a gut punch, but it's not a death blow," Raheem Morris said. Death blow gets my write-in vote. They just lost to the Lions. I don't care about the pass interference call on Kellen Winslow that wiped out a touchdown. It shouldn't have come down to that. I don't care if these are the new-and-improved Lions. I don't care about Bucs injuries or that Calvin Johnson is a great receiver who made great plays down the stretch, you can't let him go off like that. Who was covering Calvin anyway, Hobbes? You can't let Maurice Morris look like Mercury Morris, either. You can't let Detroit drive 58 yards to tie it to end regulation, then drive 63 yards to win it without the Bucs offense so much as touching the ball. They just lost to the Lions. There is now way around that. Or this: "We're hoping right now," Ronde Barber said. "We can handle our business and still not get in." They just lost to the Lions. They backed into the loss, too. And that should haunt them. In the fourth quarter, they had first-and-goal from the 1 and had to settle for a field goal and a 17-17 tie after the call against Winslow. There was booing over that flag, from what crowd there was at Raymond James Stadium. With it tied at 17, the Bucs seemed poised for another comeback win behind Josh Freeman. But they got cautious. They settled for three points. Freeman never did take a shot at the end zone before kicking made it 20-17. Morris left it to his defense. Only it was out of bodies, out of gas, out of stops. Funny, or not so funny, but when the Lions were within distance of the tying field goal, they still took a shot at the end zone with a throw to the end zone, Drew Stanton to Johnson. To Repeat: Drew Stanton. They just lost to Drew Stanton. They just lost to the Lions. A playoff team doesn't lose this game. A playoff team grabs the Lions by the throat. They couldn't lose this game to this team in this stadium at this time. They just lost to the Lions. Maybe there's a way out. But this felt like more than a gut punch, a lot more.