Lions facing long playoff odds after losing 2 straight games for 1st time since 2022

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — The Detroit Lions were not expected to match the success they had last year when they won a franchise-record 15 games to earn the NFC’s No. 1 seed in the playoffs and claimed consecutive division championships for the first time since they were an NFL powerhouse in the early 1950s.

Detroit lost two veterans on one of the league’s best offensive lines and two coordinators, including Ben Johnson, who left to lead the Chicago Bears, and did not address its desperate need for pass-rushing help.

The schedule also was tougher than it was a year ago.

No one, though, envisioned the Lions sputtering as they have since starting 4-1 this season.

Detroit (8-7) has not won two games in a row in more than two months. And after losing two straight games for the first time in three-plus years, including Sunday's wild 29-24 setback to Pittsburgh, the Lions face long odds to make the playoffs.

Detroit's only chance to rally into a third straight postseason is to win road games against the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night and the NFC North-leading Bears on the last weekend of the regular season — and for the Green Bay Packers to lose at home against Baltimore and at Minnesota.

Undaunted, coach Dan Campbell's message to his team was clear.

“Move forward,” Campbell said he told players Monday when they met to kick off a short week of preparation. "We’ve got three days here of practice for these guys to get the mental work, to recover. Make sure they get rest when they leave here and get back to work.

“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. Nobody cares. We got a game plan ready for them. They’ve got to go out there and digest it as fast as they can and be ready to go, man — emotionally, psychologically, physically by the time Thursday hits.”

The Lions are throwing the ball effectively to running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who had 10 catches for 66 yards against the Steelers, because they're struggling to get him going in the run game.

Detroit was held to 15 yards rushing — its lowest total since 2016 — in the latest sign that a once-powerful running game is weak because a banged-up offensive line isn't opening holes for Gibbs and David Montgomery.

The Lions had just 70 yards rushing in their previous game, a loss to the Los Angeles Rams, and they are 0-6 when held to fewer than 100 yards on the ground.

Aidan Hutchinson sacked Aaron Rodgers twice in the first half in a 10-all game against the Steelers, giving him 11 1/2 sacks. Hutchinson has matched his career high set two years ago and showed he has bounced back from his season-ending knee injury in 2024.

Amon-Ra St. Brown had just four catches on nine targets for 54 yards and his pass-interference penalty on the final play against Pittsburgh negated his lateral and Jared Goff’s go-ahead touchdown run on the final play.

St. Brown showed up to work Monday with a knee injury.

“This was just something that just popped up when he came in,” Campbell said.

Defensive back Avonte Maddox (back) was hurt against Pittsburgh, another hit for a banged-up secondary that has three starters on injured reserve.

7% — That is Detroit's playoff probability, according to the NFL.

The Lions need to focus on what they can potentially control — winning at Minnesota — and hope the Packers lose to keep their playoff hopes alive for another week.

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Detroit Lions' Aidan Hutchinson reacts after sacking Pittsburgh Steelers' Aaron Rodgers during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Detroit Lions' Jared Goff (16) waits for a call on the final play of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell wipes his face during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Pittsburgh Steelers' Joey Porter Jr. (24) reacts after breaking up a pass for Detroit Lions' Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) in the endzone during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)

DENVER (AP) — A judge has accepted guilty pleas for the owners of a Colorado funeral home for the abuse of 191 corpses, many of which languished in a room-temperature building for years.

Authorities say Carie and Jon Hallford, who operated a Colorado Springs funeral home, maintained a lavish lifestyle and gave fake ashes to some families of the dead.

The husband and wife owned and operated Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs. Jon Hallford is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6, 2026. Carie Hallford is set to be sentenced April 24.

The latest plea agreements would have Jon Hallford sentenced to between 30 and 50 years and Carie Hallford to between 25 and 35 years. Victims’ family members want each of them sentenced to 191 years — which would include one year for each victim.

A statement by a group of victims’ family members had said they wanted to have the cases proceed to trial.

“This case is not about convenience or efficiency,” said Crystina Page, whose son’s body was among those found at the funeral home. “It is about human beings who were treated as disposable. Accepting a plea agreement sends the message that this level of abuse is negotiable. We reject that message.”

The judge earlier this year rejected previous plea agreements that called for up to 20 years in prison, with family members of the deceased saying the proposed punishments were too lenient.

The Hallfords are accused of dumping bodies and giving families fake ashes between 2019 and 2023. Last year, both pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse. Jon Hallford’s plea deal was rejected in August, after which he withdrew his guilty plea. Carie Hallford withdrew her guilty plea in early November after it was rejected by State District Judge Eric Bentley in a rare decision.

Investigators have described finding the bodies in 2023 stacked atop each other in a bug-infested building in Penrose, a small town about a two-hour drive south of Denver. The scene was horrific, officials said, with bodies stacked atop each other in various states of decay — some having been there for four years.

While Jon Hallford was accused of dumping the bodies, authorities said Carie Hallford was the face of the funeral home.

During a hearing in November, Bentley said he considered the need for deterrence in rejecting the plea agreement. Colorado, for many years, had some of the weakest funeral home industry regulations in the nation, leading to numerous abuse cases involving fake ashes, fraud, and even the illegal selling of body parts.

In August, authorities announced that during their first inspection of a funeral home owned by the county coroner in Pueblo, Colorado, they found 24 decomposing corpses behind a hidden door.

That investigation is pending as authorities have reported slow progress in identifying corpses that, in some cases, have languished for more than a decade.

The Return to Nature case has helped trigger reforms, including routine inspections.

The Hallfords also have admitted in federal court to defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era aid and taking payments from customers for cremations the funeral home never performed.

Crystina Page, right, hold the hand of Heather DeWolf as they speak to the press outside the El Paso County Courthouse, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, before a court hearing for Return to Nature funeral home owners Jon and Carie Hallford. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)

FILE - A hearse and van sit outside the Return to Nature Funeral Home, in Penrose, Colo., on Oct. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Crystina Page, back, hugs Angelika Stedman outside the El Paso County Courthouse in Colorado Springs, Colo., Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, before speaking to the press ahead of the court hearing for Return to Nature funeral home owners Jon and Carie Hallford. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)