I backed out of what I said last week since I didn’t put my house on the money line. This is a good thing, because I’d be homeless right about now. The Detroit Lions fell in a heartbreaking loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, and to be honest, I’m still depressed. I will not get over this, but life goes on. Here’s a quick recap for those who didn’t catch the game on Sunday:

The Lions jumped out to a first half lead of 24-7 and had all the momentum; however, the 49ers decided to wake up and ended up winning 34-31 after what some call coaching blunders or player mistakes. You can be the judge of who is to blame.

Jared Goff looked like an MVP quarterback for most of this game, as the California native finished 25 of 41 with 273 yards and a touchdown to Jameson Williams. Speaking of “Jamo,” he got us started with a big 42-yard end-around touchdown run that was reminiscent of his high-flying celebration against the Saints in Week 12. The run game was our bread and butter, as David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs both found the endzone on 93- and 45-yard scores respectively.

Remember two paragraphs ago when I said we lost because of a coaching blunder or player mistake? I think you need to put the blame on Lions’ receiver, Josh Reynolds. The guy dropped two passes that hit him right in the hands on fourth down with a chance to continue the drive and get us more points. 

You might ask, “Why didn’t we just kick it?” It’s because all year, we weren’t the team that just played it safe. We took risks. We live and die by the sword. You can’t change the game plan to suit just this one game. So, all of you that are blaming Dan Campbell for being irresponsible and not kicking field goals in those two situations: hit the dusty trail. You must realize that we had just as good of a chance at converting the fourth and short than hitting two 40-plus yard field goals.

To be honest, what you can blame this loss on is the second half defense. I really don’t know how you can fall off that bad. We were batting down passes, forcing bad throws, sacking Brock Purdy, and forcing punts left and right. Cut to the second half, Purdy all of a sudden turned into a dual threat quarterback and Christian McCaffrey decided to turn on the jets.

Purdy chucked for 267 yards with a touchdown and interception. McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel both notched a rushing touchdown, but I think the nail in the coffin was Brandon Aiyuk’s touchdown catch that should’ve been an interception. That play alone made every single Lions fan cry a single tear with a violin playing in the background.

If you didn’t see the play, count yourself lucky. Purdy dropped back for a pass and unloaded a bomb down to Aiyuk. Lions’ Kindle Vildor was covering him and had the chance to catch the slightly overthrown ball. Instead, it ends up going through his hands, bounces off his facemask, and has just enough air under it for Aiyuk to dive and catch the ball. Unreal. 

Of course, there were a lot of things that the Lions could’ve done differently during this game, so the result could’ve changed in Detroit’s favor. In the end, I am happy with how we played for the most part. I think that this game, especially, gives the front office a good look into what needs to be changed and improved with the draft coming up and off-season free agency. The Lions are a great team, but they have a chance to be the best.

Although we are a team that has made it to the NFC Championship, there are many areas that we are in desperate need of improvement. To start off, we need a lockdown corner who strives in man coverage because Cam Sutton is not that guy. He can’t cover deep balls and he for sure cannot cover short slant routes over the middle. His only interceptions have been on bad placed throws that a child could catch. That won’t cut it, especially with our schedule next year.

We also need another pass rusher. Aidan Hutchinson is really good, but he can only do so much when he gets double teamed or held for the majority of games. The draft does not have a heavy presence of defensive linemen, so Brad Holmes needs to get out there and bring one in from another team. He lost his chance in free agency, so he needs to make it up now. 

If you can do me one thing, it’s don’t count this season as a failure. This team has made it farther than any group in this franchise has been for over 30 years. It’s not a fluke. Enjoy it while you can. It’s the start of a legacy that will put the Lions as a premiere destination for NFL football for years to come. 

It’s uncharted territory for us Lions fans, but from what I saw this season, we have a pretty solid road map to success. Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.