NEW ORLEANS — Just imagine what Matt Flynn would have done to the Detroit Lions’ defense.
Hey, that’s a joke.
But just like a week ago in the regular season finale against the Green Bay Packers' backup quarterback, so was the Lions’ defense — and it fell as flat as the punch line in Detroit's first trip to the NFL playoffs since 1999.
The Lions' defense folded under the assault from New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees in a 45-28 loss in the NFC wild-card playoff round at the Superdome on Saturday night.
Brees shook away every threat from Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson, leading a five-touchdown blitz in the second half that knocked the Lions out of the playoffs.
The Saints advance to play at San Francisco next weekend in the divisional round.
The Lions head home with some consolation for making the playoffs, but with the bitter taste of having their season end. Their final record was 10-7 with the loss to the Saints.
“We came a long way,” Stafford said. “We expect to be back.”
Lions center Dominic Raiola, playing in the postseason for the first time in 11 seasons in Detroit, wasn’t ready for the playoff run to end.
“You never like to think what it’s going to be like when it’s over,” Raiola said. “This is a hard one to swallow. It’s done. One and done.”
The Lions had leads of 7-0 and 14-7 in the first half and were still in contention when they cut the deficit to 24-21 on Stafford’s 1-yard touchdown run with 1:08 left in the third quarter.
But the Saints blew the game open with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Only a week ago, the Packers rested starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the final regular-season game against the Lions in Green Bay. Backup Flynn torched the Lions for 480 yards and six touchdown passes, a Packers record.
Brees didn’t match Flynn’s totals — Brees passed for 466 yards and three TDs — but he directed an attack that set an NFL postseason record by gaining 626 yards.
Lions coach Jim Schwartz wasn’t happy with the way his defense played.
“We missed opportunities to make interceptions,” he said. “We failed on third and fourth down, and we tackled poorly.”
He repeated that two more times when asked what went wrong on defense.
The Saints showed so little regard for the their own defense that twice in the second half they went for it on fourth down rather than punt or try a long field goal, and they converted both times.
The Lions’ tackling was horrible at best and nonexistent at worst. And it was often at its worst.
A 3-yard touchdown pass from Brees to tight end Jimmy Graham in the third quarter underscored the height of the Lions’ abject failure to play anything resembling championship defense.
On a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line, Graham lined up wide to the right. Amazingly, nobody noticed the 6-foot-7, 265-pound tight end who had 99 receptions in the regular season.
Linebacker Justin Durant finally reacted just as the ball was snapped, but it was far too late to prevent a touchdown pass that wasn’t any harder than two kids playing catch in the back yard.
“It’s not the way we designed it,” Schwartz said.
It was only one of many misplays.
In the fourth quarter, Robert Meachem got behind cornerback Alphonso Smith by about 15 yards for an easy 56-yard TD catch.
The Saints never punted. Two first-half possessions were stopped by fumble recoveries by linebacker Justin Durant.
Their last possession was an act of mercy by the Saints. On first-and-goal with 2 minutes left, the Saints took a knee on four straight plays to turn the ball over to the Lions and end the game.
Stafford and Johnson had big games. Stafford passed for 380 yards and three TDs. He also threw two interceptions, both in the fourth quarter when the Lions were desperately trying to rally.
Johnson had another great game with 12 catches for 211 yards and two touchdowns.
Stafford reacted well in his first playoff game. Without a running game — the Lions gained 32 yards on 10 carries — the offense relied strictly on Stafford's ability to get the ball to Johnson and the other receivers.
When the Saints got the lead, there was a great urgency to answer back.
“We had to go out and start trading touchdown for touchdown,” Stafford said. “Give credit to them. It’s going to be tough to stop them from here on out.”
One thing is for sure. The Lions couldn’t do it.
