Potholes are becoming a common theme as the Detroit Lions map their route to the playoffs and their first division title in 30 years.
The Lions control the NFC North but must clear more obstacles to reach their desired postseason destination. They host the surging Denver Broncos on Saturday night with plenty at stake. The Lions can clinch a playoff spot with a win and multiple possible combinations of results in Sunday and Monday games.
Detroit (9-4), which leads second-place Minnesota by two games in the division race, lost two of its past three games and even the Lions’ three victories since Halloween have been on the scary side.
The Lions defeated the Los Angeles Chargers (41-38) on a last-second field goal, then needed two late touchdowns to rally past Chicago (31-26) at home. A Thanksgiving Day loss to Green Bay made them look even more vulnerable.
They barely held off New Orleans (33-28) after taking an early 21-0 lead, then were soundly defeated by the last-place Bears 28-13 Sunday.
Detroit committed six turnovers in their two division losses and didn’t force one. Now come the opportunistic Broncos, who have forced 18 turnovers while winning six of their past seven games.
“We’ve got to do a better job protecting the ball this week than we have the last four games,” offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff was limited to 161 passing yards and was picked off twice by the Bears. He’ll look to get his top receiver, Amon-Ra St. Brown, back in a groove. St. Brown has 87 receptions for 1,063 yards and six touchdowns but has been limited to five catches for 70 yards in the past two games.
“Yeah, you’d love to get him going,” Goff said. “I think he’s doing a great job. He’s been very accountable of things that he feels like he can do better and then for me as well, I’m very much just talking to him about ways that I want to try to do better for him and get him the ball in certain ways a little bit better than we have in the last couple weeks.”
Goff’s counterpart, Russell Wilson, hasn’t put up big numbers lately. But defense has carried the Broncos (7-6) back into the playoff picture. Denver trails first-place Kansas City by one game in the AFC West.
Wilson bounced back from getting picked off three times in a loss to Houston by throwing for 224 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-7 win over the Chargers on Sunday. Courtland Sutton caught a touchdown pass for the 10th time in 13 games.
Sutton has caught a touchdown in each of Denver’s six road games this season. With a touchdown reception Saturday night, Sutton would be the fifth player in NFL history with a TD reception in his team’s first seven road games of a season.
“Man, he’s playing well,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said of Sutton. “He’s competitive, he’s smart, he’s got strong hands in traffic and obviously, he’s confident.”
Denver hasn’t given up more than 22 points in the last eight games, but Payton believes that streak will be tough to extend against Detroit’s diverse attack.
“It’s one of those offenses, they’re doing a lot of good things,” Payton said. “It’s evident in the film and in the statistics.”
Payton will be matching wits against one of his former players and coaches, Dan Campbell.
“I have tremendous respect for everything about him, what he stands for, how he coaches,” Payton said.
Every Lions player got in at least a limited practice on Wednesday. That’s especially noteworthy regarding center Frank Ragnow, who was sidelined last weekend.
Broncos safety P.J. Locke (neck) and outside linebacker Nik Bonitto (knee) were among the players who didn’t practice Wednesday.