Lions Amon-Ra St. Brown on controversial play
Amon-Ra St. Brown said the game didn’t come down to the pass interference called on the final play, saying that the Lions needed to execute better.
That final play, a doozy, was one part desperation, one part miracle, and eight parts cold water dumped on your head.
Amon-Ra St. Brown caught a fourth-down pass within spitting distance of the goal line. But he got sandwiched by two Pittsburgh Steelers defenders, and, realizing he was about to go down as the clock expired, scooped the ball to his quarterback Jared Goff, who dove into the end zone for an apparent game-winning touchdown.
The crowd exploded! That play had heart! It had guts! It had magical destiny written all over it!
It also had a penalty: Offensive pass interference on St. Brown.
Which meant the touchdown never happened, and the win never happened – just as the 2025 season Detroit Lions fans were expecting never happened.
Wake up and smell the standings. The Lions are 8-7. They are all but done.
Blue Christmas.
“We had an opportunity to win the game which is ultimately what you want,” said a clearly disappointed coach Dan Campbell after the 29-24 loss to Pittsburgh that all but killed the Lions’ playoff hopes. “But … we’re the ones who put ourselves in the position where we had to try and score on the last play. …
“It was just too little, too late.”
Let’s be blunt.
It’s been too little for too long.
A Lions season waiting to crumble
Look, sooner or later, a house of sticks is going to crumble. For weeks, the Lions have been trying to fortify their playoff hopes with second-stringers, third-stringers and new arrivals. They’ve altered the offense to cover holes for countless injured linemen and tight ends. . They’ve altered the defense to cover weak spots left by the injured Kerby Joseph, Brian Branch, and Terrion Arnold. Every time they lost to a top team, the Lions tinkered, tweaked, and rallied to beat the next opponent.
But you can only move pieces around so much before talent diminishes and confusion reigns. On Sunday, Dec. 21, in a game they absolutely had to win, the Lions were laying their biggest egg of the season, including a third quarter that saw them run a total of three offensive plays, the last of which was a sack of Goff in the end zone for a safety. Then, finally, well into the fourth quarter, they scrambled back as only they can do.
Down by 12, they drove 68 yards to cut the lead to five on a touchdown pass from Goff to Jahmyr Gibbs, then saw the Steelers miss a field goal to send the Ford Field crowd into a frenzy. They’re still alive! There’s still a chance! Detroit used the rest of the clock to drive 72 yards to get into position for those fateful closing moments.
“What did you make of that last play?” someone asked Campbell. “The penalty? The apparent touchdown?”
“I don’t even want to get into it,” he said, his face reddening, “because it’s not going to change anything. We still lost.”
Exactly. While fans will long remember those crazy final seconds, and the agonizing sight of Aaron Rodgers once again celebrating a bizarre victory at Ford Field, it was everything that came before that play that lost the day.
It was a vanishing rushing game that only produced 15 yards all afternoon, despite facing one of the weaker defenses in the league, and despite having two healthy running backs – Gibbs and David Montgomery – at their disposal.
It was a porous defense that allowed Pittsburgh to score slowly and score quickly – a nearly 10-minute drive for a field goal followed by two two-minute drives for touchdowns, both capped with 45-yard scores by running back Jalen Warren, explosive dashes that made Detroit’s run defense look second-rate.
Every key third down, it seemed, was converted by Pittsburgh. The Lions defenders, especially their backfield, were often out of sync, out of position, and out of gas.
It was 481 yards allowed. It was 200 yards rushing and two critical fourth downs surrendered. It was no interceptions and only two sacks on the 42 year-old Rodgers, who outsmarted the coverage time and time again, including spotting a linebacker, Alex Anzalone, on a running back, Kenneth Gainwell, with moments left in the first half. Rodgers threw a bomb that Gainwell, despite having been knocked down by Anzalone, somehow caught on his chest.
Gainwell popped to his feet, untouched, and ran in for a tying touchdown with 2 seconds left before halftime.
“Rodgers” Campbell admitted, “is really good at messing with you.”
It was all that – and it was mistakes. Fans might already be forgetting that, before that wild last play, the Lions had the ball down to the 1 with 25 seconds left, before having a St. Brown touchdown nullified by offensive pass interference on Isaac TeSlaa (go back 10 yards) followed by a false-start penalty on Kingsley Eguakun, who was making the first start of his career at center (back another 5 yards.)
So instead of the potential game-winning play from 1 yard away, they had 16 yards to go.
These are all avoidable setbacks, and all part of the reason the Lions lost this game long before that final, desperate spectacle.
“It’s frustrating,” Campbell said, “I mean, look, we just lost two in a row.”
That hasn’t happened in three years.
Blue Christmas.
Biting into a poison apple
In the subdued aftermath of the loss, Goff faced the media and was asked what it felt like to be on the outside of the playoffs looking in.
“We haven’t had that feeling (in a while.) It’s creeping in on us now. We got to find a way. I think it goes back to what Dan’s message was. Are we who we say we are?”
That’s an important sentence. Are we who we say we are? Because this year, the Lions – and, let’s be fair, their fans and most of the media – acted like the team was destined for the playoffs and likely much more. There was talk of a Super Bowl. There was talk of a winning culture finally taking hold, and the Lions becoming a franchise that would not be denied excellence.
But what we think and what the Lions have done has not aligned, for many reasons. Detroit is now just one game over. 500. It’s even possible they finish with a losing record. With the exception of a Week 2 blowout of the Bears, they haven’t yet beaten a team that’s for sure going to the playoffs. They haven’t strung two wins together since early October.
Blame injuries. Blame coaching changes. Blame karma. If you watched Chicago beat Green Bay on Saturday night, you could feel the difference between the franchises this year. The Bears, helmed by Detroit’s former offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, seem kissed by destiny. The Lions seem to have bitten a poison apple.
Yes, we should acknowledge there is still a small chance of a postseason birth, if Detroit wins out and Green Bay loses twice. But believing that will happen is part of the magical thinking that has blinded us to the fact that this team is now down to the studs on defense, doesn’t pressure the quarterback enough, cannot protect or run block the way it used to and keeps games close while losing as often as it wins.
That’s no fun to hear.
The truth often isn’t.
“We’re big boys in this league, man,” Campbell said. “You pull your pants up and you go to work. And you can’t feel sorry for yourself. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting. … But we have nobody to blame but ourselves.”
Honest. Admirable. And about as much fun to swallow as rotten eggnog. As the December snow hardens, this is the first time in three years we can say this: The Lions are on a losing streak.
Thanks a lot, Santa.
Blue Christmas.
Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates on his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow @mitchalbom on x.com.