Inglewood, Calif. – The Lions and Chargers engaged in a classic shootout at SoFi Stadium on Sunday. In the end, the Lions defeated the Chargers 41-38 to go to 7-2 on the season thanks to their rushing attack, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown’s career day, and Riley Patterson’s right leg.
In the victory, Detroit amassed 200 rushing yards and 533 offensive yards overall. Jahmyr Gibbs led Detroit’s rushing offense with 116 yards on 12 carries, and David Montgomery added a 75-yard touchdown run. Gibbs also scored two one-yard scores. On 14 carries, Gibbs gained 77 yards.
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Jared Goff’s favorite target all afternoon was wide receiver St. Brown, who caught eight passes for a career-high 156 yards, including a 20-yard score in the third quarter. It was St. Brown’s sixth 100-yard receiving game in a row and his fourth in the previous seven games.
Lions Triumph in SoFi Stadium Showdown
With seven and a half minutes left, a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jared Goff to tight end Brock Wright gave the Lions a 38-31 lead in an offensive duel that saw 954 yards of total offense between the two teams throughout the afternoon. With three minutes and thirty-four seconds remaining, on a fourth and one play, quarterback Justin Herbert found wide receiver Keenan Allen for a 38-yard touchdown throw, but the Chargers offense, as they had all afternoon, rallied and tied the game at 38-38. With 11 receptions for 175 yards, it was Allen’s second score of the game.
Detroit was the side that had the ball last in the game, and they were going to win. With just over two minutes left, Goff found wide receiver Kalif Raymond for a 41-yard pass that put the Lions at the Los Angeles 34-yard line. Goff and rookie tight end Sam LaPorta converted a fourth and 2 play to the Chargers’ 20-yard line, which set up Patterson for the game-winning 41-yard field goal with one second remaining.
QB Comparison: With a 122.4 passer rating, Goff completed 23 of 33 passes for 333 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.
With a 114.9 rating, Herbert completed 27 of his 40 attempts for 323 yards and four touchdowns, one interception (by Kerby Joseph).
Big play: With less than two minutes left in the game, Lions head coach Dan Campbell faced a 4th and 2 at the Los Angeles 26-yard line. Rather than take the lead and give the Chargers the ball again with a chance to win with a touchdown, Campbell decided to go for it. With time running out, Goff iced the clock by finding LaPorta between two defenders for a six-yard gain, which allowed Patterson to win it.
