The Detroit Lions were holding onto a very slim playoff hope when they took on the Minnesota Vikings on Christmas, but suffered a crushing loss that ended any hopes of reaching the postseason.

The pain grew even sharper when the rival Green Bay Packers were upset on Saturday, a loss that would have sent the Lions into Week 18 with an even greater chance of sneaking into the playoffs.

Packers Stumble Against Backup Quarterback

Going into this week’s slate of games, the Lions had a very narrow path to the playoffs — they needed to win both games and have the Packers lose both. While that came to an end after Detroit’s loss to the Vikings on Christmas, the other side of the equation actually fell in their favor.

While the Packers were favorites against the Baltimore Ravens and backup quarterback Tyler Huntley, they struggled on defense and suffered a 41-24 loss. The Packers allowed running back Derrick Henry to rush for 216 yards with four touchdowns, setting a record for yards by an opposing running back at Lambeau Field.

“That was a humbling night,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said, via ESPN. “Give Baltimore a ton of credit. They came in here and were in complete control the whole game.”

The Packers looked like a vulnerable team, leading to some frustration among the players.

“That was very embarrassing, and that’s just not us at all,” Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper added.

Green Bay would have had a shot at winning the NFC North with a win and a Chicago Bears loss, but instead will head into the final week of the season with nothing on the line. They are locked into the No. 7 seed, and will have the chance to rest some players in the season finale against the Minnesota Vikings.

Lions Looking for Answers

The Lions came into this season looking to win a third straight division title and showed plenty of resiliency along the way, responding to their first three losses with wins. The Lions hadn’t lost back-to-back games in more than three years, but have now lost three straight games and watched their playoff standing plummet.

Goff said Minnesota came with a strong defensive game plan, grounding Detroit’s once high-flying offense.

“They did a good job on defense, had a good plan, and exploited some things on us,” Goff said. “They were able to get after us, adding an extra rusher a lot of times. Whenever that happens, it’s a free rusher. They did a good job with that. We had a plan that we thought would attack that, and it didn’t work well enough.”

Though Goff led the Lions on a scoring drive just before halftime, he said the Vikings came with some good second-half adjustments to clinch the win. The Lions played well on defense, holding rookie quarterback Max Brosmer to just three net passing yards, but failed to take advantage on offense.

The Lions head into an offseason with some big decisions, with several players on defense headed to free agency.