Lions get run over in Carolina
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Lions had every reason to be confident when they arrived Saturday at Bank of America Stadium.
Their offense was on a roll, and their defensive issues — particularly stopping the run — appeared to have been resolved. They had won six of their last seven games, vaulting into contention for an NFC wild-card spot.
That’s what made their 37-23 loss to the Panthers all the more inexplicable. The Lions allowed the Panthers to pile up a franchiserecord 570 yards, including 320 on the ground. D’Onta Foreman (165 yards) and Chuba Hubbard (125) rushed for career highs.
‘‘That team wanted it more than us,’’ Lions coach Dan Campbell said. ‘‘They were hungrier. They were ready to go. They got after us.’’
With NFC wild-card contenders losing everywhere, the Lions (7-8) had a chance to move into playoff position. They entered the game trailing the Commanders by a half-game for the final wild-card spot. That’s where they remained, thanks to losses by the Commanders (7-7-1) and Seahawks (7-8). The Packers and Buccaneers (both 6-8) play Sunday.
With the score tied at 7, the Lions were driving for go-ahead points when quarterback Jared Goff fumbled a snap from center and defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos recovered the ball at the Panthers’ 8.
The Panthers (6-9) then drove 92 yards for a touchdown and went on to score 24 consecutive points to open a 31-7 lead and put the game out of reach midway through the third quarter.
‘‘A couple of things we do a good job with weren’t happening,’’ Campbell said. ‘‘We usually don’t turn it over, and we usually stop the run. It didn’t happen today. You get what you deserve in this league; that’s why we love it. We earned what we got today. And we earned the six wins that we got before this.’’
The Lions knew they had to stop the Panthers’ running game and make quarterback Sam Darnold beat them. But on the Panthers’ first two plays from scrimmage, Hubbard ripped off runs of 30 and 35 yards.
The Lions had given up an average of 84 yards rushing in their previous five games but were mauled by the Panthers, allowing 7.4 yards per carry and three touchdowns on the ground.
Several Panthers said they thought — after studying tape — that they could take advantage of the Lions’ linebackers and safeties overcommitting to the run.
‘‘We knew from watching film that they were going to attack downhill,’’ Foreman said. ‘‘The biggest thing for us was just being patient and letting it happen. Once they committed and got up to the line, we just had to be in the right spot and hit the holes and be explosive.’’
That’s exactly what Foreman and Hubbard did. The Panthers had seven runs of at least 20 yards.
‘‘They just ran a simple gap scheme [with] double-teams and bounced it out, and we have no support,’’ Campbell said. ‘‘We just weren’t hitting on all cylinders. We got hit in the middle. We got hit in the perimeter. We got hit in every way you can get hit in the run game. We just didn’t handle it well. We weren’t physically, mentally or emotionally ready today.’’