On Sunday, Detroit attempted to improve its NFC seeding and suffered the price.
Lions tight end Sam LaPorta suffered a hyperextended knee and a bone bruise in the team’s 30-20 win over the Minnesota Vikings and is expected to miss some time, according to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport.
“The best way I can put it is it’s not as bad as it looked, but it’s not good news,” head coach Dan Campbell said after the game. “We’ll find out more tomorrow.” I know it looked bad. It’s not quite that horrible.”
LaPorta sustained the injury on his fifth catch of the game when he collected a third-down pass to move the sticks and got his leg stuck awkwardly in the turf.
He was carted to the locker room for evaluation and ruled out shortly after.
Earlier in the contest, LaPorta had become just the third rookie TE in NFL history to score 10 touchdowns in his first season, and he also broke Keith Jackson’s 35-year-old rookie record for receptions at the position with 86. He’ll finish his inaugural campaign with 889 regular-season receiving yards.
His injury comes at a critical time for Detroit as it heads into Super Wild Card Weekend.
Along with weapons Amon-Ra St. Brown, David Montgomery and fellow rookie Jahmyr Gibbs, LaPorta is a key part of quarterback Jared Goff’s well-oiled offensive machine that entered Sunday ranked fifth in scoring and third in yards.
The victory delivered Detroit the No. 2 seed only if the Dallas Cowboys fall to the Washington Commanders and the Philadelphia Eagles to lose to the New York Giants in the late-game slate. The Lions entered Week 18 always destined to go into the playoffs in the second or third spot.
Now they’ll have to enter their first postseason since 2016 likely needing to win at least one game to see LaPorta back on the field this season.
