Lions vs. Commanders live score updates, highlights, drive analysis

We’re providing live score updates, highlights, and drive-by-drive analysis for the Detroit Lions’ Divisional Round matchup against the Washington Commanders.

A spot in the NFC Championship is on the line Saturday night as the Detroit Lions host the Washington Commanders in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs . If the Lions win, they’ll host next week’s NFC Championship game. If the Commanders walk away with their second road playoff victory, they’ll travel one more time to either Los Angeles or Philadelphia for a date with the Rams or Eagles.

For the Lions, this is right where they expected to be. After getting bounced in the NFC Championship Game last year, the motto inside the building was “It Takes More,” noting that getting back to even that game is going to be tougher this year around. If it was harder, the Lions haven’t shown it so far. They’ve improved from last year’s 12-5 record to 15-2, although it was a battle to eventually win the NFC North in Week 18. Now, with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, the Lions can’t afford a let-down game against the Commanders.

As for the Commanders, they decidedly weren’t supposed to be here. With a first-year head coach and a rookie quarterback, people understandably expected this to be a building year. Instead, Jayden Daniels has played spectacularly, often pulling out wins in the final seconds of Washington’s games—including last week’s Wild Card win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers .

We’ll be live blogging the Divisional Round game between the Lions and Commanders right here on this page. When the game kicks off around 8 p.m. ET on FOX, simply head to this page, refresh, and updates with drive analysis, the latest scores and highlights will appear below.

Enjoy the game and see you at 8 p.m. ET.

First quarter

The Commanders won the toss, giving the ball to the Lions offense first. The opening kickoff went out of bounds, giving Detroit great field position to start. But the Lions wasted the opportunity. After two David Montgomery rushes lost a total of 13 yards, Jared Goff couldn’t connect with Tim Patrick and it was a quick three-and-out for the Lions offense.

The Lions almost immediately lost cornerback Amik Robertson, who suffered a friendly fire shot and had to be escorted to the locker room, training holding his arm in place as they walked off the field. Meanwhile, the Commanders dinked and dunked their way down the field with four straight passes to open the game. Eventually the Commanders got backed into a third-and-14, and Washington worked their way into a fourth-and-1 from there. Washington tried a trick play from there with Marcus Mariota taking the snap under center, but he was immediately stuffed for the turnover on downs.

The Lions offense suddenly exploded on the ensuing drive. Jared Goff hit Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs for 19 and 23 yard gains, respectively. Gibbs added another 24 yards on the ground all the way down into the red zone. Then Gibbs capped it off with a 1-yard touchdown run and an early 7-0 Lions lead.

The Commanders answered, though. On third-and-10, Jayden Daniels found Jamison Crowder for 12 yards into Lions territory. Then, on another third-and-10, Kindle Vildor knocked away a pass intended for Olamide Zaccheaus. Zane Gonzalez would end up converting a 47-yard field goal to make it 7-3 Lions with just under four minutes left in the first quarter.

The Lions went right back to work on the backs of Gibbs. The Lions running back made a couple of nasty cuts en route to a 33-yard run.

But on a third-and-1, Goff was sacked and fumbled the ball, with Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu recovering.

Washington’s offense would take over and move toward midfield as the clock turned over to the second quarter.

Second quarter

Daniels opened up the quarter with a 42-yard strike to Dyami Brown all the way down to Detroit’s 16-yard line.

The Lions got a red zone stand, forcing a fourth-and-3 for the Commanders, but Washington opted to go for it and this time, they converted with a 7-yard pass to Zach Ertz. Detroit nearly got another goal line stop, but a pass interference call on third down gave the Commanders a free set of a downs from the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Brian Robinson plunged it in from 2 yards out for a 10-7 Commanders lead.

Detroit tried to strike back immediately with a deep shot to Williams, but Goff overshot him by a yard or two. Then Goff went to Amon-Ra St. Brown, who came down with it for a 34-yard gain.

Then a wide receiver screen to Kalif Raymond got Detroit all the way down to the 2-yard line, and Sam LaPorta found the endzone on a sick one-handed touchdown catch. 14-10 Lions.

But it only took three plays for the Commanders to strike back. A WR screen to Terry McLaurin went 59 yards for the score. 17-14 Commanders.

A false start on LaPorta got the Lions off to a troubling start. Two plays later, Goff airmailed a pass to Tim Patrick and it was intercepted by Quan Martin and returned for a touchdown. 24-14 Commanders.

On the interception return, Goff took a big hit, and had to be taken out of the game to be evaluated for a concussion. Teddy Bridgewater came in for the next drive. The Lions ran a perfectly-executed reverse to Jameson Williams that went 61 yards for the score to make it 24-21 Commanders.

The Commanders drove right back to make it a two-score game before the end of the first half. Daniels hit a perfect pass to Brown for a 38-yard gain down to Detroit’s 7-yard line.

On third-and-goal, Daniels found Ertz for the 6-yard touchdown to make it 31-21 Commanders with 1:46 left.

With Goff back in the game and the Lions holding two timeouts, Detroit had plenty of opportunity to cut into the lead before halftime. Goff worked the two-minute drill well with three short passes moving Detroit inside the 30-yard line. But he got greedy on a shot to Williams and Mike Sainristil stepped in front of it for a half-ending interception.

Third quarter

The Commanders got the ball to start, but after a single first down, the Lions defense stood tall and forced a third-and-long incompletion.

Detroit, pinned inside their own 10-yard line, got off to a strong start thanks to an 11-yard run from Montgomery. On the ensuing third-and-2, the Lions were bailed out by a facemask penalty that wasn’t a facemask. The Lions took advantage, with Goff connecting with St. Brown for 19 on third-and-10. Then the Lions pulled out a trick play—a lateral to Montgomery who then shovel passed it to St. Brown.

Gibbs punched it in from 8 yards out for the score to make it 31-28 Commanders.

The Commanders answered with a sustained drive. Daniels scrambled for 14 yards, Washington was gifted 15 yards with a questionable personal foul penalty, then on third-and-5 from the red zone, Daniels found Brown for 3 yards, setting up a fourth-and-2 for Detroit’s 16-yard line. Washington opted to go for it, and Daniels kept it for a 3-yard gain. The Commanders faced a third-and-2 going into the fourth quarter.

Fourth quarter

Terrion Arnold made an incredible open-field tackle to force another fourth down. But Detroit—with several substitutions in the game (Ifeatu Melifonwu and Brian Branch were out with injuries)—had too many men on the field for the fourth down, and the Commanders converted without running a play. Two plays later, Washington was in for the score. 38-28 Commanders.

The Lions were moving to midfield, but then they pulled out their worst trick play of the season—a reverse to Jameson Williams plus a pass. The Lions wideout tried to force a ball to Gibbs, and threw it right to Commanders rookie corner Sainristil for his second interception of the season.