Lions defeat Rams by 1 point for 1st playoff win in 32 years, ending historic losing streak

Jared Goff threw for a touchdown and completed a game-sealing first down against the team that cast him away, and the Detroit Lions won a playoff game for the first time in 32 years, beating Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams 24-23 on Sunday night.

The Lions (13-5) ended a nine-game post-season losing streak the longest in NFL history that dated to a victory over Dallas on Jan. 5, 1992. They lost a home playoff game two years later and hadn't hosted one since.

The Rams (10-8) had a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, but Detroit's defence held. A holding penalty pushed Los Angeles out of field goal range, and Stafford the Lions' longtime quarterback who won a Super Bowl after he was traded to the Rams threw incomplete on fourth down.

On the first play after the two-minute warning, Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for 11 yards, allowing the Lions to run out the clock much to the delight of long-suffering fans who witnessed the franchise's second post-season victory since winning the 1957 NFL title.

Against the franchise he once led to the Super Bowl, Goff was 22 of 27 for 277 yards and threw a two-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Sam LaPorta that put Detroit ahead 21-10 midway through the second quarter. The Lions acquired Goff and a pair of first-round picks for Stafford three years ago.

Stafford, who played most of the game with a bandaged and bloody hand after he slammed it into a defender's helmet, finished 25 of 36 for 367 yards with two touchdowns. Record-breaking rookie Puka Nacua had nine receptions for 181 yards.

David Montgomery and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs each had a rushing touchdown for the Lions, and St. Brown had seven receptions for 110 yards.

The Lions scored on their first two drives to take a 14-3 lead.

Michael Badgley's season-long, 54-yard field goal gave the Lions a seven-point lead midway through the third quarter.

The Rams moved the ball at will for much of the game, but had to settle for short field goals by Brett Maher on drives late in the third and midway through the fourth to get within 24-23 with 8:10 remaining.

Stafford has made a career of fourth-quarter comebacks, a fact the fans at Ford Field were well aware of. With a chance to put the Rams ahead for the first time, he led a drive to the Detroit 34, but the Lions' defence forced him backwards from there.

Detroit took over with 4:07 to go, and Los Angeles had only one timeout left after calling two earlier in the half to cope with a crowd as loud as a blaring siren. That allowed Goff to take a knee after his throw to St. Brown.

The Lions started strong and looked as fired up as their long-suffering fans, with rapper and Motor City native Eminem in the house along with Hall of Famers Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson.

The fans showered Stafford with boos when he ran onto the field, where he posed for a pregame photo with his wife and their daughters, and chanted "Jar-ed Goff! Jar-ed Goff" for the Lions' third-year quarterback.

Packers stun Cowboys

Jordan Love threw for three touchdowns, Aaron Jones ran for three more and Darnell Savage returned an interception 64 yards for a score and the Green Bay Packers handed the Dallas Cowboys their first home loss since the 2022 opener in a 48-32 wild-card stunner Sunday.

Romeo Doubs had a career-high 151 yards receiving a week after being hospitalized with a chest injury as the Packers won Love's post-season debut after finishing the regular season 6-2 to grab the NFC's final playoff spot.

"We came in here with a mindset of we're going to dominate," Love said. "A lot of people were counting us out and we didn't care about that."

Green Bay (10-8) will visit top-seeded San Francisco in the divisional round next weekend.

Dak Prescott threw two interceptions before three mostly empty touchdown passes in another playoff flop for him and the No. 2 seed Cowboys (12-6).

Dallas had won its previous 16 regular-season home games, but now has allowed the most points in a game in the club's post-season history. The previous high was 38.

The Cowboys, who haven't reached an NFC championship since the most recent of their five Super Bowl titles 28 years ago, didn't trail by more than eight points at AT&T Stadium this season before falling behind 27-0 in the first half.

Dallas is the first team to win at least 12 games in three consecutive playoff seasons without making a conference title game.

The Packers have never lost in six trips to AT&T Stadium including the Super Bowl over Pittsburgh during the 2010 season. They now have two playoff victories over the Cowboys after Aaron Rodgers led a 34-31 divisional win when Dallas was the NFC's top seed in 2016, Prescott's rookie year.

Those Packers let a 21-3 lead slip away. These Packers, with the four-time MVP's successor, left little doubt with a 48-16 fourth-quarter lead before two late Dallas TDs.

Facing the NFL's fifth-best defence, Green Bay matched its Super Bowl-winning team from 2010 for the most points in a playoff game. That was also on the road, a 48-21 victory at top-seeded Atlanta in the divisional round.

Doubs, who returned to the Green Bay sideline after his hospital trip before the end of last week's 17-9 home victory over Chicago that secured a playoff spot, had 102 yards at halftime. It was seven more than the second-year player's previous best.

First-half catches of 22, 26 and 39 yards helped get Love going, and the fourth-year QB finished 16 of 21 for 272 yards as the Packers scored touchdowns on six of their first seven offensive possessions in their highest-scoring game since 2014.

A 46-yard grab by Doubs early in the second half helped finish off the Cowboys after they had scored 10 points on either side of the break. Doubs, Luke Musgrave and Dontayvion Wicks had TD catches.

Jones rushed for 118 yards, putting him over the century mark in all four career games against the Cowboys with nine touchdowns.

The crowd under the retractable roof on a frigid day in the Dallas area had already been stone-cold silenced when Prescott tried to throw a slant to top receiver CeeDee Lamb.

Savage, who went without an interception in the regular season for the first time in his five-year career, stepped in front and run untouched for a 27-0 lead with 1:50 left before halftime.

Prescott finished 41 of 60 for 403 yards, with all three of his touchdowns to tight end Jake Ferguson.