Lions beat Cowboys 44-30, score huge boost to playoff hopes

Thursday’s game between the 7-5 Detroit Lions and 6-5-1 Dallas Cowboys was almost a pseudo-elimination game. Thanks to three touchdowns from Jahmyr Gibbs, the Lions are now better than 50/50 to make the playoffs while the Cowboys’ chances plummeted to the single digits after Detroit’s 44-30 win on Thursday Night Football.

Gibbs recorded his third game this season with three touchdowns and totaled 120 yards, including 77 yards on seven catches. David Montgomery added a rushing touchdown and 60 yards on six carries and Jameson Williams (seven catches, 96 yards) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (six catches, 92 yards) both went over 90 yards receiving.

Detroit moves to 8-5 on the season and now have a 55 percent chance of reaching the postseason. They sit 1.5 games behind the 9-3 Chicago Bears in the NFC North and just one game behind the 9-4 San Francisco 49ers for the last spot in the playoffs.

The defense also came up with a much-needed strong performance. After totaling just two sacks in the previous three games, Detroit sacked Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott five times. Al-Quadin Muhammad was responsible for three of those sacks. Thursday marked Muhammad’s first career three-sack game. He had 2.5 back in Week 3 of this season against the Baltimore Ravens.

Detroit once again proved effective with explosive plays. They only ran 57 offensive plays but averaged 7.2 yards per play. Turnovers also played a key role in this game. Detroit forced three takeaways, while Dallas did not record a single one.

The Lions head into their final four games of the season still with a chance to make the playoffs for a third consecutive season. Another huge game awaits in Week 15; another face-off against their former quarterback Matthew Stafford as the Lions visit the Los Angeles Rams. They close with the Steelers, Vikings and Bears.

The bottom line: Thursday was as close to a must-win as it can get for the Lions. 8-5 sounds much better than 7-6.

This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Lions beat Cowboys 44-30, score huge boost to playoff hopes