The Lions’ injuries are becoming recurring nightmares in an otherwise dream season

DETROIT — They’ve waited generations around here for a team like this — rich in talent, armed with creativity and boasting a blistering offense. For the first time ever, you could say “Detroit” and “Super Bowl” in the same sentence and not elicit laughter.

And that was before an 11-game hitting streak got them to 12-1 on the season heading into Sunday.

Except here in Week 15, in a 48-42 loss to the Buffalo Bills, the familiar, if haunting, sight of the Lions wrecker kept popping up play after play to draw defenders away.

Already riddled with damage, with a two-deep Scotch wallpaper along with fill-ins, this is the recurring nightmare of an otherwise dream season.

First, cornerback Carlton Davis III suffered a jaw injury and did not return.

Then cornerback Khalil Dorsey was carted off with an ankle injury that looked brutal.

Then there was defensive lineman Alim McNeill, a cog just back from a concussion, limping off the field, into the blue tent and then onto the cart with a knee injury.

“I don’t feel good about either of those guys (Dorsey and McNeill),” head coach Dan Campbell said. “Usually if I say ‘no good,’ it’s not good for the rest of the year.”

Forget losing the game. It’s happening, and Buffalo is a big team with Super Bowl aspirations of its own.

It was what was lost that matters. Again.

“No, I’m not buying, I’m not buying it,” Campbell said of the defensive injuries that cost the Lions the game. “We can be better. We should have been better. We know how good they are, but we should have been more urgent.”

Campbell is an unapologetic guy. He has repeatedly said that injuries are part of the deal and that the task is for everyone on the pitch to be good enough and prepared enough to perform. That’s what you want and expect him to say.

“I just feel like we didn’t play at the same level as that team,” Campbell said. “That’s why I put this on me. I didn’t have them ready.”

Still, facts are facts.

The Lions’ injured reserve list was already overloaded with defensive players — star defensive end Aiden Hutchinson (broken leg), defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo (knee), linebacker Malcom Rodriguez (torn ACL), cornerback Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (hamstring), safety Ifeatu Melifonwu (undisclosed), linebacker Alex Anzalone (forearm), linebacker Derrick Barnes (knee), linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin (neck), defensive end Marcus Davenport (triceps), defensive tackle David Bada (Achilles), defensive end John Cominsky (knee) and defensive end Nate Lynn (shoulder).

That’s a dozen plus three more over the course of the game.

No wonder Allen, who hardly needs much help, led the Bills to 498 yards. He himself accounted for 362 (and two touchdowns) passing and 68 more (and two touchdowns) rushing. The Bills batted once.

The Lions’ defense was so down and beat up that Campbell, trailing by 10 points, called for an aggressive, if telling, onside kick with 12 minutes left in the game. It was ripped by many as reckless, but it was a likely sign of his lack of faith in getting a defensive stop.

It also failed in spectacular fashion when Buffalo’s Mack Hollins returned it 38 yards to the Lions’ 5.

“I thought we were going to get possession,” Campbell said. “I thought we were going to get that ball…Obviously, now I’m sitting there in the rearview mirror as they take it down to the (5-) yard line, yeah, I wish I hadn’t . But it is what it is.”

One play later, the Bills scored to take a seemingly commanding 17-point lead. Still, the Lions kept pounding to take another shot (and close recovery) on an onside kick with 12 seconds left.

That’s how good the Lions’ offense is — hook and laterals, a touchdown pass to an offensive lineman, 494 yards and five touchdowns passing out of quarterback Jared Goff.

In the end, it wasn’t enough, and the Lions could find themselves in a three-way tie atop the NFC for record by the end of Week 15.

Buffalo got the hard-fought victory in what was billed by some as a possible Super Bowl preview. It can be. The Bills are an offensive juggernaut. And while Detroit was defeated, it was the first time since September 15th – a full three months.

“No excuses,” Campbell said. “We weren’t good enough. That was the bottom line. It was frustrating … but you know what, that’s part of life. You lose and it’s a bad taste in your mouth.

“What are we going to do about it?” he continued. “Should we sit there and feel sorry for ourselves? We want to bounce back and go to Chicago.”

For a franchise that has won nothing in the Super Bowl era, the goal remains everything. Maybe it’s too much, too soon, but NFL fortunes are fleeting and opportunities are closing fast.

Campbell says the Lions are built for this. He is not focused on what he does not have, but what he does.

“I think a lot more about finding ways to win games,” he said.

That’s the right answer, and his record gives him the benefit of the doubt. But as the wrecker continued to be wheeled out to the defense, the underlying question remains.

At what point is too much, too much?