For two quarters, the Detroit Lions looke like they were in full control against the Los Angeles Rams—at least on the offensive side of the ball. Jared Goff was comfortable in the pocket, delivering strikes to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, and Detroit carried a 24–17 advantage into halftime.

Then came the dreaded return of what Lions fans know all too well.

Earlier in Dan Campbell’s tenure, one troubling pattern repeatedly showed up: the Lions often emerged from halftime flat. Plays that worked before the break suddenly stopped working, forcing the team into tense fourth-quarter battles just to stay afloat.

That issue was thoroughly documented near the end of the 2023–24 regular season, when AtoZSports.com’s Mike Payton broke down Detroit’s third-quarter struggles on both sides of the ball. Defensively, the Lions allowed significantly more yardage after halftime, generated far fewer sacks, and produced only one takeaway all season in the third quarter. Offensively, the numbers were just as concerning—third quarters featured their lowest yardage output, fewest touchdowns, and highest turnover rate of any quarter.

Sound familiar?

A Third Quarter That May Have Defined the Season

Nearly everything unraveled for Detroit in the third period of Sunday’s 41–34 defeat. After looking explosive in the first half, the Lions’ offense somehow finished the third quarter with negative yardage. Across two possessions, they ran just six plays. One series gained five yards; the other went backward by 12, capped off by a sack of Goff after pressure broke through the interior line.

Both possessions ended in punts, and the Lions’ offense spent barely three and a half minutes on the field during the entire quarter.

The Rams took full advantage. Over the remaining 11-plus minutes, Los Angeles put together a field-goal drive followed by two touchdown marches, flipping the game and taking a 34–24 lead into the final quarter. Detroit’s defense allowed 179 yards on 22 plays during that stretch, including a heavily debated touchdown reception by Colby Parkinson that stood despite questions about both ball control and whether he reached the goal line.

What makes the collapse even more painful is that Detroit held its own in every other quarter of the game. In fact, the Lions either equaled or outscored the Rams in the first, second, and fourth periods. But one disastrous quarter was enough to swing the outcome—and possibly the postseason outlook.

With the playoff race tightening and emotions running high in a matchup that featured Matthew Stafford and Goff facing his former team, the third-quarter breakdown couldn’t have come at a worse time.

If the Lions hope to reach the playoffs, they’ll need to put this loss behind them immediately and execute mistake-free football over the final three games. And if they ultimately come up short, it won’t be because of just one bad stretch on Sunday. Instead, it will reflect a season-long issue—repeated missed opportunities during a handful of quarters where everything unraveled at once.