Jonathan Coachman didn’t hold back on Sunday night, publicly pleading with Jared Goff to “take the glove off” as the Detroit Lions squandered scoring chances in their 16-9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Goff, who entered the game leading the NFL in completion percentage at 74 percent, finished just 14-of-37 for 255 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.
His 37.8 percent completion rate was the lowest in any game of his 10-year career and marked only the fifth time he has failed to complete even half his passes, with all previous occurrences coming during his Rams tenure. At one point, he completed just two of his final 18 attempts. This prompted Coachman to let out his frustration on Twitter, as he wrote:
“You haven’t thrown a good ball downfield all night and missed two wide-open receivers on that drive inside the 20. Lions stopped on downs 3 times. A minimum of 6 points left on the board.”
Detroit turned the ball over on downs five times and watched one of the worst nights of Goff’s career unravel drive after drive.
Detroit’s offense was flat all night, going 3-of-13 on third down and 0-of-5 on fourth, including a failed fake punt and three Goff incompletions—two of them intended for Amon-Ra St. Brown, who finished with only two catches on 12 targets for 42 yards.
Dan Campbell’s trademark aggression backfired repeatedly. Whether it was a stuffed run up the middle, the fake punt breakdown, or missed timing on Goff’s throws, Detroit kept reaching fourth down only to come up empty. The struggles weren’t helped by a collapsing pocket and a rushing attack that never found its footing.
Philadelphia’s defensive tackles Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis wrecked Detroit’s interior protection all night. Davis tipped three passes, including one that became an interception, and Carter consistently pushed the line backward. Outside of one crisp scoring drive, a three-play, 74-yard burst capped by a 40-yard touchdown to Jameson Williams, the Lions offense spent the first half and much of the second spinning its wheels.
The Lions’ fifth turnover on downs came late in the third quarter at the Eagles’ 45, needing only three yards but again failing to execute. Even with the defense doing its part, holding the Eagles to just three conversions on fourteen third-down attempts, Detroit couldn’t get out of its own way offensively.
Philadelphia finally extended its lead with a Jake Elliott 49-yard field goal early in the fourth, pushing the margin to 16-6. Detroit had one final chance after a defensive stop, but Goff took a sack, threw two incompletions, and Detroit settled for a long field goal from Jake Bates to make it 16-9 before a defensive pass interference call on Rock Ya-Sin erased any hope of a comeback.
It was a sharp contrast from last week, when Campbell’s takeover of play calling produced an explosive performance against Washington. This time, facing the defending champions on the road, Detroit’s offense looked disjointed, overwhelmed, and unable to adjust.
With the loss, Detroit falls to 6–4 and drops to third place in the NFC North. All four of the Lions’ losses this season have come in games where they trailed at halftime, and three have come on the road against 2024 playoff teams.
Goff’s historic inefficiency and Detroit’s five failed fourth-down attempts defined the night, and Coachman’s blunt critique captured what every Lions fan saw: a game full of opportunities, thrown away one pass at a time. Even taking his gloves off wouldn’t have saved this game.
