ORCHARD PARK, NY – It was ugly, then not as ugly, then interesting, then borderline compelling when the Detroit Lions got the ball with eight-plus minutes left and the chance to cut their deficit to three if they scored a touchdown.
That they were in that spot on Thursday, Sept. 17, was hard to believe considering the three quarters and change that came before that moment – the abysmal defensive and the (too often) sputtering offense and the brain cramps.
They looked like they hadn't practiced, and, well, they hadn't as much as they would during a regular week. But then, Buffalo had the same three days between games, and the Bills looked like a juggernaut at Highmark Stadium, taking the opening kickoff and scoring without facing a third down,
and then scoring touchdowns on their next three drives.
And yet somehow, despite this, there the Lions were, the ball at their own 10-yard-line with 8:25 left, still in the game and just a drive away from giving themselves a chance.
But then, who are we kidding?
With this defense, the Lions would've needed the Bills to implode, and that's not a winning bet against quarterback Josh Allen. They were going to have to score with them, from the beginning, and they couldn't, falling 41-31 in Week 2 of the 2026 NFL season.
Not on a night when Buffalo christened its new stadium in the suburbs of Buffalo. Not with the Bills coming off a statement win at Houston, hanging 36 on what was supposed to be the best defense in the NFL.
Still, there the Lions were, with the ball and a slight chance – only for it to disappear in a hurry: batted pass, 0-yard run, batted pass, punt.
That was it.
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The Bills added another touchdown to make it 41-24, and folks started filing out toward their cars. Consider the new stadium christened.
And consider the Lions a work in progress.
Remember that a few years ago, they traveled to Baltimore and lost 38-6 and looked like they were levels from the top of the league, then finished the year in the NFC championship game, four points from a Super Bowl appearance.
No, that doesn't mean anything for this year's team. It's just a reminder that Week 2 is early, and it's one game, and it's possible these Lions might look a lot different in a few months this season, too.
So, let's see what it looks like when they're healthy, at least relatively healthy, if they can get there, if they can get back one of their safeties and their starting right tackle and their starting center.
Let's see what it looks like then, when the margin for error won't be quite so unforgiving, when they can afford a couple of mistakes, because no team escapes a game without making them.
In the meantime, let's also see if the Lions can cut down on the penalties, and fit the run better, and communicate better in the back end – for the second week in a row, the defensive backfield let a receiver run encumbered because of a mixup.
That can't happen.
Nor can being in the wrong place in the run game, as Jack Campbell was too many times in the first half, when Buffalo more or less won the game. Campbell wasn't especially sharp in Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints, either.
He wasn't the only one.
There was a blown coverage that parted the field for an easy 43-yard pitch-and-catch from Allen to Joshua Palmer. An interception overturned by a holding call, one of three such flags on the same drive once the Bills got into the red zone.
A false start on third-and-inches by the center – the center! – that ruined a first down on the quarterback sneak. On the next play, the left side of the line – Penei Sewell and Brian Bartch – were beat for a sack of Goff.
Punt.
Game?
Game.
Not that it wasn't already.
But then the Lions still have Goff and still have Amon-Ra St. Brown and they recently added offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, who found a play-calling rhythm late in the first half that helped the team inch down the field for a field goal and then dialed up a few routes for St. Brown in the first series of the second half.
Goff tear-dropped one over St. Brown's shoulder on third down for 21 yards and then greased one into a sliver of space at the goal line. St. Brown held on despite a back on his, well, back, and scored.
The Lions trailed 27-17.
A game?
Sure, if the Lions could somehow find a stop. They couldn't though, all night, and proved it again when the Bills took over at their own 25-yard line, chewed up 8:22 of clock on 15 plays, and scored as Allen bulled his way into the end zone from 2 yards out.
Four times, the Bills converted third-and-1 – not necessarily a mighty feat, but rather, a revealing one: that the Lions' defense had no chance of even forcing a third-and-long, which ultimately meant they had no chance, period.
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions' slimmer margin for error is clear after Bills stampede defense
