The Detroit Lions fell to 12-2 Sunday afternoon, snapping an 11 game winning streak in their first loss since September. The Buffalo Bills came to Ford Field and came away with a 48-42 win in the highest scoring NFL game of the season.
Buffalo took an early 7-0 lead with an opening drive that ended with a Josh Allen touchdown. Another Allen touchdown made it 14-0 before Detroit responded with a Jared Goff to Tim Patrick score to make it 14-7.
Buffalo wasted no time responding to make it 21-7. Detroit stayed in the shootout with a touchdown pass to offensive lineman Dan Skipper to pull together within 21-14. That was the halftime score as each team missed a field goal late in the second quarter.
Buffalo scored to open the second half and doubled up Detroit 28-14. Another Buffalo scored put Detroit in a 35-14 hole but Goff connected with Amon-Ra St. Brown to pull Detroit closer at 35-21. Detroit answer a Buffalo field goal to make it a 38-28 affair.
But Detroit’s momentum was short lived as Buffalo recovered the onside kick and scored a touchdown on their first play from scrimmage to go up 45-28. The Lions were not done on offense, Jahmyr Gibbs found the endzone to pull Detroit to within 10 at 45-35.
Detroit scored again with time winding down in the fourth quarter to make it 48-42. But that is as close as Detroit would get as time would run out on an offensive shootout.
The Lions are on the road next Sunday for a game against division rival Chicago. As of Sunday night, the Lions still hold the #1 seed in the NFC for next month’s playoffs.