Redskins suffer humiliating loss to Lions
The Washington Redskins, with a struggling offense that hadn’t been able to find ways to score in the red zone, were looking forward to playing the lowly Detroit Lions on Sunday. It provided them an opportunity to get healthy and gain confidence against a team riding the second-longest losing streak in NFL history, at 19 games.
Instead, it was Detroit who seized the opportunity.
In what is surely going to be the low point of the season regardless of how the final 13 games turn out, the Redskins allowed a Lions team that is seemingly allergic to winning and led by a rookie quarterback making the third start of his career to completely dominate them in a 19-14 loss. No. 1 pick Matthew Stafford threw for 241 yards and a touchdown, and the Detroit offense moved the ball up and down the field almost at will, converting third down after third down en route to victory. The Lions had two scoring drives of 90+ yards.
But it was Washington’s red zone ineptitude that spelled doom right from the start. A week after racking up yards but settling for field goals in a 9-7 win over St. Louis, the Redskins took their first possession inside the Detroit 5 yard line. But on 4th and goal from the 1, head coach Jim Zorn decided to go for it and Clinton Portis was stuffed, giving the Lions all the momentum it would need.
Jason Campbell threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns, the second coming late in the fourth quarter to give the Redskins a chance to win the game. But after getting the ball back with a little over a minute remaining and no timeouts, he led the offense inside the Detroit 30 before running out of time.
Jim Zorn’s job is in serious jeopardy, as is Washington’s season. The early part of its schedule set up for a fast start before it turns into murderer’s row, but now there is no reason to think that any win will come easily, or even come at all. That’s what losing to a team that’s lost its previous 19 games will do to change perception.
