Detroit Lions learning what it's like to be the hunted, not the hunters Jared Goff was flat on the turf. Amon-Ra St. Brown was injured on the sidelines. Alex Anzalone was out of the game with a concussion. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were celebrating at Ford Field. And Dan Campbell was fuming from a mistake he made that might have cost his team the game. If this were a painting, it would be called "Portrait of Defeat." And it was. The Detroit Lions took their first loss of the year Sunday to the Bucs. So this morning, we know two things: 1. Our team is not going 17-0 this year. 2. They better get used to this kind of effort from opponents, because it's coming every week. First off, to the first point. The Lions are not - and will not be - perfect. And while he fell on his sword after the game, I don't agree with Campbell's self-flagellation for the 20-16 loss. Although if anyone can sell a mea culpa, it's him. "Their head coach cost them this week," Campbell confessed, his jaw tight, his face as red as a teenager telling his parents he cracked up the car. "Critical error. End of the half. A hundred percent on me." The play that haunts him came with Detroit on Tampa Bay's 9-yard line, with the clock clicking off the final seconds of the first half. Suddenly, there was a mix-up between the field goal unit and the spike-the-ball unit, which left the Lions with too many men on the field. The resulting penalty called for a 10-second runoff, and since there were only 4 seconds remaining, that meant the half was over. The Lions didn't get to try a chip-shot field goal. Those lost three points were huge, given that Detroit would end up trailing by four in the closing minutes of the game and fail twice at putting the ball in the end zone from close range. Had they kicked the earlier field goal, another chip shot could have won it. "It's a massive error on my part, no one else's," Campbell insisted. "It's one of those things we work over and over …and then I mess it up." That may be true. But he's not alone in that department. Roasted by a Baker The Lions also work on containing the opposing quarterback. Yet time after time Sunday, Baker Mayfield eluded the rush when it most mattered. The well-traveled quarterback wound up the Bucs' leading rusher with 34 yards on five carries. But it wasn't the total. It was the timing. Yes, he took five sacks (all of them credited, at least in part, to Aidan Hutchinson) but when he had to, especially on third downs, he eluded the Detroit rush and picked up precious yards by finding an open receiver or taking off himself. And then, when it mattered most, he tucked the ball and ran through the Detroit defense for 11 yards and the go-ahead touchdown. "You don't expect to get to the end zone from that far out," Mayfield later admitted. Yet he did. That's on the Lions, not Campbell. The Lions also work on converting red-zone chances. But Detroit crossed the Bucs' 20 seven times on Sunday, and came away with one touchdown. Seven times? One TD? "That'll get you beat," Goff would say. And let's talk about the quarterback. Goff works on being precise. It's the thing the Lions cherish most about him. He won't hurt you. He'll play within himself. On Sunday, he got away from that a few times. He threw one terrible interception to the middle of the defense, had another picked on a questionable no-call, and had two other potential steals dropped. He was precise much of the time, but not all of it. Against a good hungry team like the Bucs, to quote Goff himself, "that'll get you beat." Mitch Albom Detroit Free Press , published 16 September 2024