NYLion

This guy especially needs to be gone. Ran his mouth all season and was a complete dud when it mattered, got run right over on a few notable occasions in the playoffs. Nothing worse than a constant trash talker who can't back it up. The Lions are good at safety anyway. Holmes objective, and I know he loves to go BPA regardless of position in the draft, is to snag an outside corner and pass rusher opposite of Hutch. Also, need to shore up the O-Line depth with Decker and Ragnow getting older. Team is close but has a few very obvious holes.

The schedule is harder next season (on paper, we'll see how the offseason plays out), the division can only go up from here really. This year it was a Vikings team without their QB, a Packers team with a QB who was just starting to figure things out and a Bears team that started to figure things out late in the season. I'm not saying that the Lions can't be back in this position next season because... of course they can, but the stars sort of aligned for them this season with an easier schedule, a division in transition and getting a team like the Bucs at home in a divisional round. I think the road to get back to near the top is usually tougher than the first time you get there.

This is how I see it and is why it's hard for me to get over this loss and just say that the team will be back here again because the future is bright. The reality is that unless you have one of those generational QBs that is pretty much an auto-ticket to the Championship game at minimum every season or a team like San Fran with ridiculous talent at every position, there is no guarantee that you ever get back there so you need to take advantage when you do. I really like Goff, I love the young talent and head coach but with a tougher schedule, tougher division and with the Lions certain to have a target on their back now it's going to be even more difficult to get back to this spot again. It's possible that the Lions could have a better team, on paper, next season and have a worse season. You just never know in the NFL, there's so much change from year to year outside of the very top teams. This one is going to sting for a while.

I love Campbell but it doesn't mean that he should be above criticism. Sorry if that bothers you but this is a message board so we're all allowed opinions here.

I need time to come around on this my friend, this one hurts really bad in the moment. I'm sure you understand.

This is the NFL. If your kicker can't hit a 45 yarder then what the **** are you employing him for. Give me a break

You absolutely can. His foolish bravado on that 4th down completely changed the momentum, you kick the 45-47 yard FG there to go up 27-10. No brainer I love him as coach but he cost them there.

I don't know if I'll ever get over this game. The season, which should have been considered wildly successful regardless of this result, somehow feels like a failure now. Only the Lions can find a way to cap an incredible season like this with a collapse like this. Maybe I'll look at the season more fondly the further we get from today but right now, it feels like a failure in a game that was right there for them to take. I blame Campbell for foolishly going for it up 24-10 and in FG range, completely turned the game right there and then.

Willing to give $50m now? Or maybe I should ask this after the game.

Great pics dude. I'm sure you're loving this from your vantage point.

LOTS of Lions fans there. This is the loudest I've heard a Lions fans at an away game outside of the Chargers game probably.

What a half, reminds me a lot of the first half at Lambeau. Don't get conservative in the second half. You can see Campbell's growth as a coach. You know he was itching to go for it on 4th but kicking a FG was absolutely the right decision.

Still surreal to me that the Lions are playing in the NFC CHAMPIONSHIP today for a berth in The SUPER BOWL. Whatever happens today barring a complete blowout in which the Lions didn't show up, the season has been a massive success. Still, NFL teams that don't have Patrick Mahomes only get so many chances like this so why not get it done now because, you never know, this opportunity might never come again for this group.

I think deferring it to later years is the way to go because the cap is almost certain to be a lot higher during the second half of the contract so the higher caphit can be absorbed easier plus winning windows are generally limited in the NFL so if you have a chance to create short term flexibility at the expense of a little more long term pain, it's probably the smart move. This is why you see a lot of teams backload contracts. Either way, pay the man.

Yeah, Dak will set a good benchmark for a Goff contract. I think he gets $50m+ for sure, 4 years $200m minimum for Dak.

I don't see why not. Goff was great at Cal without Ben Johnson and was a 2 time Pro Bowler with the Rams without Ben Johnson so maybe he's just.... good. Contracts like the Jones one matter because it sets a market. The most recent comparables are Watson at 46m, Murray at 46m, Wilson at 49m then Hurts at 51m and all those contracts are beginning in a lower cap world so where does Goff fit in that range considering that he's been better than the prior 3 and while Hurts had an MVP runner up to this credit, Goff is getting paid in a more inflated market. I do think $50m is probably the ceiling of what his contract looks like but I do think it'll be closer to 50 than 45. Plus there's ways to structure the contract where some of the money gets deferred to later years so the Lions have a little more flexibility in the short term. 50m would only really be a 15m bump from this current salary in worst case scenario so it's not really that much more of a strain on the cap, relatively, unlike players coming off of rookie deals. 50m would make him the 6th highest paid QB, 7 if you include Erin and this is before the new wave of contracts kick in. Seems fair to me. I mean, Stafford was the highest paid QB in the entire league for doing less than Goff until he wasn't anymore. Seriously though, what are the Lions going to do? Penny pinch their franchise QB that took them on a Superbowl run and played a big part in it? Just pay the man.

Neither, it's all due to Ben Johnson who is leaving soon so.... Time to usher in the Hooker era.

Washington is drafting a QB at #2 in all likelihood so it's more than likely to be Johnson or some other offensive minded guy IMO. Glenn will be a Lion next season and I'm fine with it, I think he's done pretty well with this defense considering the hand he's been dealt with a ton of youth and key injuries.

You really think it's that easy to do what Goff has done the last year and a half especially? I'm curious, how much do you think Goff should be paid keeping in mind that he's been a borderline top 5 QB in many passing categories and has been excellent down the playoff stretch drive? Also keeping in mind that the QB market dictates that Daniel Jones is worth $40m in what was a less inflated cap environment.

No, I'd say 2 or 3 is usually a toss up game. If the Lions played at the Rams, the Rams would have likely been favored by 3 as the Lions were favored by 3 playing at home. If they were playing the Niners at Ford Field, the Niners would probably be a slight favorite or it would be even.

I don't think record matter that much because it depends on context. For instance, the Lions were 12-5 at home against a 10-7 Rams team and were only a 3 point favorite then hosted the 10-8 Bucs who came off of destroying the Eagles just a week later and were almost a 7 point favorite. The Rams and Bucs had similar records but reputation and proven commodity comes into play so the Rams got a lot more respect with the line. I don't think the TD spread is justified but I can understand why the Niners would get the betting line respect.

I can understand the spread, the Niners are the more proven commodity and have played at a more consistently high level than the Lions this year and I'm fine with it because I think the Lions will thrive in the underdog role.

The Niners are actually very susceptible against the run, it's why I always thought they were a good matchup for the Lions. The Lions were somewhat pass happy last week because they were playing against an elite run defense but I think we'll see more of an emphasis on the run in this game.

4-19-1 to start the Campbell era directly into 22-7 and an NFC Championship berth at minimum. It's hard to recall such a sudden turnaround in sports history although there were a lot of close losses in that 4-19 stretch so it felt like the Lions were close to turning around.

Ok gotcha, I just assumed you were because of your location. Lucky you then, being a Canucks and Lions fan would have been a rough way to live over the last several decades.