Photos: What the heck are the Lions doing on the Packers' Hail Mary?!
The Lions defensive alignment on the Packers Hail Mary play Thursday night was beyond embarrassing.
By
Will Brinson
•
1 min read
The Lions got their hearts ripped out (as did gamblers) on Thursday night when Aaron Rodgers hit a 61-yard Hail Mary to Richard Rodgers for a 27-23 Packers win on Thursday Night Football. It didn't have to go down like this, because the Lions defense on the final play was the stuff that gets people fired.
The Lions lined up in a very perplexing formation, with one guy playing what looked like press man (even though he would eventually not follow that guy), five guys drifting aimlessly in the middle of the field and another defender kicking it on the opposite sideline.
People realize stuff is at stake here, right?
As you might imagine, this sort of stuff isn't going to work out well. Jim Caldwell said after the game his team was playing for a lateral type of play and that's fine, but take 11 dudes, have them hold hands and play Red Rover on the goal line if that's your strategy.
Or you could have everyone mill around lethargically in the middle of the field as Rodgers heaves a bomb to save his season.
So there are a few problems here. One, you rush three guys. Two, you leave two guys hanging out in the middle of the field. Three -- and this is really the most important of all with two guys sitting there doing nothing -- no one was in front of the Packers' receivers.
And not just no one. Six guys were behind Richard Rodgers when he caught that ball.
Caldwell and his coaching staff did a great job getting the Lions prepped the last three games and had the Packers on the ropes, ready for a sweep and a situation where they save some jobs.
The prep for the final play of this game should raise an infinite amount of question marks about his future.
