DETROIT (AP) — Jared Goff wishes the Detroit Lions were playing this week.
Detroit is coming off its best performance of the season, beating Arizona 45-21 on the road ahead of its bye week.
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Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell dedicates a game ball to radio play-by play broadcaster Dan Miller, ollowing the death of his wife recently, after an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride (85) catches a touchdown pass as Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell (46) defends during the second half of an NFL football game in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Detroit Lions cornerback D.J. Reed (4) breaks up a pass intended for Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Michael Wilson (14) during the second half of an NFL football game in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams (1) celebrates his touchdown reception against the Arizona Cardinals during the second half of an NFL football game in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) celebrates his touchdown run with quarterback Jared Goff (16) against the Arizona Cardinals during the second half of an NFL football game in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
“Wish we could play tomorrow after a game like that,” Goff said last Sunday.
The Lions (3-2) opened the season with a 31-30 overtime win over New Orleans at home and have alternated losses and wins since.
Detroit was dominated at Buffalo, hung on to beat the New York Jets, played poorly in a loss at Carolina and bounced back with a blowout against the Cardinals with a defense that suddenly didn't look like the NFL's worst.
“It is a complementary football game and you could certainly feel it,” Goff said. “They were playing with energy and swagger and then we were feeding off that, getting short fields, scoring and then they would multiply that.”
The Lions go into Week 6 as one of three 3-2 teams in the NFC North. Chicago and Green Bay are the others, while Minnesota is 5-0 and has a bye this week.
Detroit will see how it stacks up in the division with its next two games at home against the Packers on Oct. 25 and the Vikings on Nov. 1.
The Lions host the Bears on Thanksgiving Day and in a stretch that may decide the division, they play at Minnesota in Week 15 and close the regular season at Chicago and Green Bay.
The Lions and Bills are leading the league in scoring, averaging 32.8 points per game.
Detroit is the NFL's first team to have a quarterback (Goff) with at least 1,400 yards passing and 12 passing touchdowns and a running back ( Jahmyr Gibbs ) with 500-plus yards rushing and seven scores on the ground through the first five games of a season.
Gibbs is the fourth player in league history — and the first since Christian McCaffrey in 2019 — to have 500-plus yards rushing and at least 240 yards receiving through the first five games of a season.
The three-time Pro Bowler has scored the most touchdowns (57) by an NFL player before his 25th birthday. He wants to break LaDainian Tomlinson's single-season record of 31 touchdowns.
“I’m trying to get that,” Gibbs said.
Goff has thrown 12 TD passes without an interception through five games. He joins Russell Wilson, who did it in 2019, as the only NFL quarterbacks to accomplish that feat.
Receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, along with tight end Sam LaPorta, give Goff plenty of options in the passing game when defenses are stacked to stop Gibbs on the ground.
The Lions are allowing a league-high 404.4 yards per game, and they are third-worst in scoring defense, allowing 29.6 points per game.
Fifth-year defensive back Roger McCreary has heard the talk about how poorly the unit has played.
“That’s the part of business,” said McCreary, who defended six passes at Arizona for the highest total in a game by a Detroit player since Bryant Westbrook in 2000. “If you not playing good, critics going to say something.”
Despite the poor team stats defensively, the Lions are pressuring quarterbacks. They have 20 sacks, the most they've had through five games in a season, and have four players with at least three sacks for the first time at this point of the season.
The Lions might get a boost on both sides of the ball after their bye.
Hard-hitting safety Brian Branch and veteran center Cade Mays are getting close to returning after being out with injuries.
Branch tore his left Achilles tendon late last season against Dallas. He was voted to the Pro Bowl in 2024.
Mays has been out for two months with a wrist injury. He was a key acquisition in the offseason, signing a three-year contract to fill a void left by Frank Ragnow's retirement entering the 2025 season.
While Goff would have picked another week for a bye, Campbell said it's right on time to give Branch and Mays another week to get cleared to play.
“We got the opportunity to get a couple of guys back potentially here, so that extra week early right now buys us that,” Campbell said. “So, I think it’s good. Yeah, after you feel like you play your best game, there is part of you that’s like, ‘Boy, it’d be nice to keep going.’ But, I think this is a good thing. I think it’s good that it’s happening now. We can kind of get some guys back, get rested up and be ready to go after that.”
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell dedicates a game ball to radio play-by play broadcaster Dan Miller, ollowing the death of his wife recently, after an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride (85) catches a touchdown pass as Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell (46) defends during the second half of an NFL football game in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Detroit Lions cornerback D.J. Reed (4) breaks up a pass intended for Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Michael Wilson (14) during the second half of an NFL football game in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams (1) celebrates his touchdown reception against the Arizona Cardinals during the second half of an NFL football game in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) celebrates his touchdown run with quarterback Jared Goff (16) against the Arizona Cardinals during the second half of an NFL football game in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Garrett Mitchell hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning, Milwaukee's brilliant bullpen slammed the door late and the Brewers rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series to earn their first World Series trip since 1982.
No. 9 hitter David Hamilton's two-out solo shot off Edwin Díaz gave the Brewers a two-run cushion in the ninth. Hamilton had just four homers in the regular season.
“We got down early tonight and we were like, it’s going to be a great story,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich said. “We’re going to come back and win this. Like, stay together, start chipping away. And that’s exactly what they did.”
Aaron Ashby pitched three scoreless innings for a save as the Brewers erased a four-run deficit to win their first NL pennant and second overall. Milwaukee was in the American League when the franchise made its only previous World Series appearance 44 years ago, a seven-game loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Shohei Ohtani's first home run this postseason helped put the Dodgers ahead 4-0 in the second inning before the Brewers came back to complete a four-game sweep of the two-time defending World Series champions a year after getting swept by Los Angeles in the NLCS.
“They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we’ve got a bunch of gamers — and the gamers won this week,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said.
The Dodgers' goal of a three-peat — not done since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000 and never by a National League team — died with their anemic offense and injuries to Ohtani and others on their aging roster.
“I'm not used to those consolation speeches,” manager Dave Roberts said. “The thing about sports that we all love is no matter how much you prepare, you want it, there’s no guarantees.”
After topping the majors with 103 wins during the regular season, Milwaukee became the first major league club to finish a postseason sweep after getting swept by that same opponent in the previous postseason.
The Brewers also are the first team to sweep a best-of-seven postseason series in which it trailed in every game.
“There was never a doubt in that dugout what was going to happen tonight. We knew we were going to win that game,” said first baseman Jake Bauers, the NLCS MVP.
With the score tied 4-all, Mitchell fell behind 0-2 before reliever Tanner Scott threw three straight balls for a full count. Mitchell’s 409-foot leadoff drive to center field — the first homer of his career on an 0-2 count — put the Brewers ahead for the first time. Mitchell also homered in their 6-2 victory Wednesday.
“It’s absolutely surreal," Mitchell said. "You talk about the battle-tested Brewers. We went down early and the belief in that dugout got stronger and stronger.”
The Brewers’ bullpen coolly turned away multiple threats when the Dodgers had the potential tying run on base.
Winning pitcher JoJo Romero struck out Max Muncy with Kyle Tucker at third to end the sixth.
With one out in the seventh and a runner on third, Ashby struck out Ohtani swinging before Mookie Betts grounded out to end the inning. Will Smith doubled to right with one out in the eighth and was safe at third when the ball got away from Sal Frelick for an error before Ashby got Tucker to fly out and Teoscar Hernández to strike out.
“Playing with that chip on our shoulder,” Ashby said. “You don’t ever know what to expect going into a series like that last year (against the Dodgers). You don’t know how bad it can be, and then it was as bad as it was. And we came out and we survived, and we came back this year, and those guys played their tails off.”
The Brewers tied it in the fifth, when the Dodgers bullpen issued four walks and Milwaukee stole two bases. Hamilton’s single chased starter Tyler Glasnow and scored Frelick, who walked and stole second, to pull Milwaukee to 4-3.
Alex Vesia came in and promptly walked Brice Turang and William Contreras to load the bases. Vesia then walked Bauers with two outs to force in Hamilton with the tying run.
Glasnow retired his first 10 batters — six on strikeouts — before the Brewers got to him in the fourth. Turang walked, Contreras hit a ground-rule double and Bauers followed with another ground-rule double that closed Milwaukee to 4-2.
Ohtani broke out of his postseason slump with a three-run homer after Andy Pages’ RBI single in the second. The four-time MVP released weeks of pent-up frustration by raising his arms and yelling and the crowd of 49,104 joined him in celebration.
But the Brewers wouldn't be denied. And when it was over, owner Mark Attanasio thought of Milwaukee's longtime owner and beloved late broadcaster.
“It’s so important for the community, the entire state of Wisconsin,” Attanasio said. “We’re standing on shoulders of Bud Selig and Bob Uecker.”
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
Milwaukee Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich celebrates after Game 4 of baseball's National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
The Milwaukee Brewers celebrate after Game 4 of baseball's National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Aaron Ashby celebrates the final out of Game 4 of baseball's National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers connects for a two-RBI double during the fourth inning of Game 4 of baseball's National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani celebrates his three run home run during the second inning of Game 4 of baseball's National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Los Angeles (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jojo Romero celebrates an out during the sixth inning of Game 4 of baseball's National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell celebrates his solo home run with catcher William Contreras in the dugout during the sixth inning of Game 4 of baseball's National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell follows through on his solo home run during the sixth inning of Game 4 of baseball's National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
