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Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff muscled his way into the end zone as time expired after a lateral from Amon-Ra St. Brown. Detroit thought it won Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Ford Field.

Instead, referees whistled St. Brown for offensive pass interference in the Lions' 29-24 loss, a setback that puts playoff hopes in dire straits. With 22 seconds left earlier in the possession, officials also hit Detroit's Isaac TeSlaa for pass interference after he set a pick for St. Brown, taking Goff's 1-yard scoring toss off the board.

The Lions (8-7) got four more cracks at the end zone from inside the 16-yard line after the first flag, but could not score. Coach Dan Campbell, despite his quarterback labeling the pick penalty as a "bad call,"  refused to blame officiating.

"We weren't able to close it out. And at the end of the day, that's on us," Campbell said. "We did that. We're the ones who put ourselves in that position to where we had to try to score on the last play."

The Lions had put themselves in position to win the game with 2:05 left following a missed field goal. Sitting eighth in the NFC standings behind the Green Bay Packers for the final playoff spot, Detroit's shot at winning the division for the third straight year is over.

Postseason hopes are faint.

"You can't feel sorry for yourself. It doesn't mean it doesn't sting, it doesn't feel bad," Campbell said. "But we have nobody to blame but ourselves. It's on us. And it's also on us to finish. We've got two to go."

Referee Carl Cheffers called the second penalty assessed to St. Brown a "pretty complex play" to a pool reporter after the game because his group of officials had to first determine if Goff had scored upon further review. It was then decided St. Brown pushed off on Jalen Ramsey to make the initial catch.

"We ruled that it was a backward pass, so the recovering player was able to advance it and that recovering player advanced it for a touchdown," Chaffers said. "We had to rule on that and then because of the offensive pass interference, it negates the touchdown. Because it is an offensive foul, we do not extend the half. Therefore, there is no score and there is no replay of the down. That's the way the rule is written."

According to NFL Rule 4, Section 8, Article 2 (b), if a foul occurs on the last play of the half, a score by the offense is not counted.

"It is what it is, those are the rules, you can't change them," St. Brown said. "But it never comes down to one play, just because of that play," he said. "We had calls go our way, too, throughout that last drive, so it goes both ways."

In order to reach the playoffs, the Lions must beat the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears while needing a pair of losses from the Packers. Green Bay plays the Vikings and the Baltimore Ravens.