Lions Backups Light Up Colts as Preseason Total Sails Over

Well, that didn't go according to plan. The Lions rolled into Lucas Oil Stadium and dropped 25 points on Indianapolis in a 25-16 final that sent our under 36.5 crashing through the window. Total of 41? Yeah, we missed that one by a country mile.

The logic was sound—preseason finales are supposed to be snoozefests where third-stringers stumble around like they've never seen a football. Detroit was resting Jared Goff, the Colts had been averaging under 10 points per game in the preseason, and everything pointed to a conservative, vanilla affair. Instead, Detroit's backups apparently forgot the memo about taking it easy. They carved up Indianapolis for 25 points, nearly matching what we projected for the *entire game*.

Anthony Richardson's limited action didn't help the Colts generate much offense—16 points is respectable for a preseason finale, but Detroit's depth chart decided to show up and show out. When your backup quarterback operation outscores expectations by double digits, you're cooked.

Credit where it's due: the Lions' second and third units came to play. Sometimes the preseason script gets shredded, and this was one of those nights. We'll take the L on this one and move on to games that actually matter.