Another year, another season, another failure. That’s how you can sum up the story of the team that had been roaring all season long. Yes, we’re talking about the Lions. The rulers of the NFC North with 15 wins in their column, all reduced to zero with their loss on Saturday. And the team that took down the big lion? The rookie Jayden Daniels led Commanders. The Lions vs. Commanders game was everything you could ask for in a playoff game. Both teams fought till the last minute, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats with their eyes wide open. As the Commanders’ defense crushed the Jared Goff-led offense, a former NFL player dropped some straight facts.

We all know that the Lions’ star, Jared Goff, was not at his best in the game he must have. Goff threw three interceptions in his divisional game, and honestly, that’s just not acceptable when the stakes are high. Former NFL player Ryan Clark didn’t hesitate to call out the QB after the tough loss. Recently, Clark made an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show. And when he was asked about the Lions’ loss, the 45-year-old said, “It was surprising to see just how bad they were defensively. But also the turnovers and interceptions by Jared G, which truly caused them the game.”

Let’s be real, after watching the Lions this season, we all had placed our bets in their favor. They truly looked like a team that wasn’t easy to defeat. But the Commanders turned out to be the ultimate underdog. They made it clear from the very first quarter that they weren’t about to let the game slip away like that. Honestly, the more you think about that game, the more it’ll make you say, ‘Wow, that was crazy.‘

But it’s not just Jared Goff who should get the blame here, and Ryan Clark agrees. The former Steelers player says the Lions’ defense is equally responsible.

The defense failed just as much as the Jared Goff-led offense in Saturday’s game

There’s already been enough talk about how the Jared Goff-led offense failed. His three interceptions have made plenty of headlines. But what we can’t ignore here is the crumbling defense that fell apart as the Commanders‘ offense stomped the field. It was there all along, the injured players on Dan Campbell’s team. But the offense was strong enough that no one could break through. The O-line had Jared Goff’s back, covering up the weaknesses. But that’s exactly what fell apart in Saturday’s game. The offense just didn’t come through.

The first blow came when cornerback Amik Robertson injured his elbow during the first half. The injury happened while he was tackling Commanders WR Terry McLaurin. The 26-year-old was seen in tears and pain as he walked off the gridiron. Talking about the Lions’ weak defensive lineup, Ryan Clark got brutally honest, saying, “When you think about all the defensive players the Lions have lost it makes total sense. Amik Robertson who had been playing well on the outside got hurt very early on in that game. And so it’s not one of those things where you know there isn’t a reason why they couldn’t get stops defensively. They had been losing all those people the entire year.”

And when you talk about the Lions losing their defensive stars, we can’t help but think about Aidan Hutchinson. There were a lot of rumors about him making a comeback after his injury if the Lions had made it to the Super Bowl in February. Well, there goes that hope.