{"id":611061,"date":"2025-12-18T23:31:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/611061\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T23:31:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:31:17","slug":"detroit-lions-looking-for-first-win-over-pittsburgh-steelers-this-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/611061\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Lions looking for first win over Pittsburgh Steelers this century"},"content":{"rendered":"

On paper, the Detroit Lions are strong favorites to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> on Sunday in a showdown of 8-6 teams with playoff hopes.<\/p>\n

History points to a different outcome.<\/p>\n

Detroit is 0-5-1 against the Steelers in the 21st century, and Pittsburgh even won a Super Bowl at Ford Field against the Seattle Seahawks in 2006. Then there’s Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a thorn in the Lions’ side for years with the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n

The Lions were seven-point favorites at the BetMGM online sportsbook as of Thursday and desperate for a win<\/a> while chasing the Packers (9-4-1) and the Chicago Bears (10-4) in the NFC North. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, leads the AFC North by a game over the Baltimore Ravens, who have a tough showdown Sunday night against AFC East-leading New England.<\/p>\n

The 42-year-old Rodgers is 8-5 at Ford Field, including a famous 27-23 win with the Packers on Dec. 3, 2015. The Lions led 23-14 late in the fourth quarter, but Rodgers scored on a 17-yard run then finished the game with a 61-yard Hail Mary TD to Richard Rodgers.<\/p>\n

Rodgers, though, doesn\u2019t have much success against the Dan Campbell-era Lions. In 2022, Detroit swept the Packers, including a season-ending victory at Lambeau Field that knocked Green Bay out of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was there when their run started going in 2022,\u201d Rodgers said this week. \u201cWe could have buried them, and they beat us and finished the season hot. The next year, they were in the NFC championship game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodgers hasn’t played the Lions at Ford Field since it became one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in the day, when we played there, it wasn\u2019t a big factor,\u201d he said. \u201cDan has obviously created a good culture there, and the fans are believing and showing up early and really loud. It\u2019s a really good atmosphere to play in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lions were one game short of the Super Bowl in 2023 and wasted a 15-2 regular season in 2024 by crumbling in the playoffs. Now, Detroit is at risk of missing the postseason altogether. They trail the Packers and San Francisco 49ers (10-4) for the final NFC wild cards.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would much rather have the division locked up and be looking forward to other things,\u201d Lions quarterback Jared Goff said. \u201cBut this gives us an opportunity to find out who we are and what kind of character we have. That\u2019s what is going to show through in moments of adversity like this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

A showdown of two-headed backfield monsters<\/p>\n

Detroit\u2019s Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery have been the NFL\u2019s best running back tandem for several years.<\/p>\n

The Steelers have formed a notable one-two punch of their own in Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell.<\/p>\n

They have combined for 1,760 yards from scrimmage and 13 touchdowns this season, sometimes trading off who is featured during a given week without signs of egos getting in the way.<\/p>\n

Last Monday night against Miami, Gainwell carried the bulk of the load while Warren battled the flu, finishing with 126 total yards.<\/p>\n

Detroit’s streak without a streak<\/p>\n

Detroit has played 59 straight games without dropping two in a row, the NFL’s longest streak since San Francisco played 60 consecutive games without back-to-back losses in the regular season from late in the 1995 season to early in the 1999 season.<\/p>\n

The Lions haven\u2019t had a losing streak since they lost five straight games in 2022. That dropped them to 1-6 before they beat Rodgers and the Packers 15-9. They finished the season with eight wins in 10 games, including a 20-16 victory at Lambeau Field to eliminate the Packers.<\/p>\n

Of course, the Lions haven\u2019t won two in a row since a four-game winning streak got them to 4-1 in October. In their last 10 games, they have gone 5-5 with alternating wins and losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we have to win one to be able to win two,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cAll we can focus on is winning Sunday. You have to win the first one to start a streak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cook’s corner<\/p>\n

Left tackle has been a problematic spot for Pittsburgh, which lost starter Broderick Jones to injured reserve with a neck injury last month. Veteran Andrus Peat filled in and promptly went into the concussion protocol in a victory over Baltimore.<\/p>\n

Enter Dylan Cook, who bounced between the practice squad and the active roster in Tampa Bay and then Pittsburgh for most of the last four years. He held his own during his first career start on Monday night against Miami.<\/p>\n

Cook may start again in Detroit, where he could have to tangle with Lions star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, whom Rodgers called a \u201cgame-wrecker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking for defensive backs<\/p>\n

Rodgers is coming off a pristine, two-touchdown performance against Miami. If the Lions are going to stop him, they will need help from a motley crew of defensive backs. Two of Detroit\u2019s starters \u2014 S Brian Branch (Achilles) and CB Terrion Arnold (cornerback) \u2014 are on injured reserve and S Kerby Joseph (knee) is still working his way back. One of their top reserves, CB Amik Robertson, is dealing with a hand injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some schematic things we will do a bit differently that we think will help,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cIt isn\u2019t going to be easy, but it should help significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On paper, the Detroit Lions are strong favorites to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in a showdown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[4495,4496,7,6,520,57,2360,426,4497],"class_list":{"0":"post-611061","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-7-action-news-sports","9":"tag-detroit-sports","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers","16":"tag-wxyz-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115743181108344571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}