Commanders vs. Lions score, takeaways: Washington stuns top-seeded Detroit in shootout to reach NFC title game

Goff picked, Commanders win 

Jared Goff throws his third pick of the night, and the Commanders are advancing to their first NFC title game since 1991.  

Commanders miss FG

Zane Gonzalez hooks his 44-yard FG try, so the Lions have life, but no margin for error with 2:26 left. 

Detroit gets a FG, don't get onside kick 

Zach Ertz able to scoop up on the onside kick after a scrum for the ball ensued. The Lions will likely use each of their timeouts now with 4:57 left. 

Lions moving but not moving fast enough

Detroit is in scoring range, but they're not moving nearly fast enough being down by three scores with under seven minutes left. Goff just hit St. Brown for a big gain down to the Commanders' 25. 

McNichols for six

All of a sudden, Washington has opened up a three-score lead. W-O-W.

Jayden Daniels is just a stone-cold baller. 

Trickeration --> Interception

The Lions broke out yet another trick play, but this time it went badly. Detroit ran a fake jet sweep to Jahmyr Gibbs with an inside hand-off to Amon-Ra St. Brown, who flipped the ball back to Jameson Williams for a double pass intended for Gibbs. But the pass wasn't there and Williams forced it anyway. Yikes. Picked by Mike Sainristil -- his second of the game.

B-Rob x2

After a too-many-men-on-the-field penalty allowed Washington to convert another fourth down, the Commies just gave it to Brian Robinson Jr. up the middle twice in a row to punch the ball into the end zone. Washington is back up by two scores.

Another fourth-down conversion

Washington went 20 of 23 on fourth downs during the regular season. Even after failing on fourth early in this game, the Commies have gone for it twice more and converted both times.

Antwaan Randle El, who hit the pitch on that play, is the Lions' wide receiver coach.

Apparently the toss-shovel play has been done before:

Lions back in the end zone

It's Gibbs once again, capping off the drive with a physical run right through the safety at the goal line. We're back to a 3-point game.

A LITTLE TRICKERATION

Ben Johnson is in his BAG, folks. It's a toss pitch to Montgomery, who then does a shovel pass to St. Brown for 20 yards. My god.

The Lions got REALLY lucky right there. Montgomery did NOT get facemasked at all while being stopped on third down. Huge break.

Big stop

The Lions desperately needed to force Washington into an empty possession, and just did it right there. It's only the second time this game where they have had a possession end without a score. (And the first one was a failed fourth-and-1 conversion.)

Cosmi OUT

Offensive explosion

In the first half:

• Jayden Daniels: 14 of 21 for 242 yards and 2 touchdowns, 30 rushing yards
• Jared Goff: 11 of 17 for 150 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions
• Jahmyr Gibbs: 12 total touches for 134 yards and a touchdown
• Terry McLaurin: 3 catches for 75 yards and a touchdown
• Jameson Williams: 61-yard touchdown run
• Dyami Brown: 4 catches for 96 yards
• Sam LaPorta: 4 catches for 29 yards and a touchdown
• Brian Robinson: 5 carries for 35 yards and a touchdown

Goff picked again

Jameson Williams had a half a step on Mike Sainristil and Goff had a touchdown if he threw a good ball, but he left the throw too far inside and got picked off for the second time this game. Wow. (On a second look, not a great route by Williams, either. He took it up the field instead of across.)

Scoreboard 

With 52 combined points, this ties for the highest-scoring half in playoff history, along with the second half of the Chiefs-Texans game in 2019, according to the CBS Sports research department.

That is gonna get overturned to an incomplete pass.

Ertz back (in the end zone)

After leaving earlier to be checked for a concussion, Zach Ertz is back in the game. Oh, and he's back in the end zone. He's been on fire in the red area lately, and he just gave Washington another two-score lead.

DYAMI GOES DEEP

What a throw by Jayden Daniels, man. This kid is amazing. Absolutely dropped in a bucket right into Brown's arms in tight coverage. Kirby Joseph was RIGHT there. Wow.

WAYMO JAMO

Yooooooo this game is off the hook. Reverse to Jameson Williams and he not only gets the edge, he cuts alllllllll the way back across the field for a 61-yard touchdown run. 45 first-half points and there are still 4 minutes left.

Goff is back on the sideline and he has his helmet, which is a very good sign.

Jared Goff is headed to the medical tent. It'll be Teddy Bridgewater under center. Goff got clocked on the interception return, and there should have been a penalty called.

PICK SIX

Oh boy. What a turn of events. Just after the Lions took the lead, they are suddenly down by two scores. Goff threw WAY high intended for Tim Patrick and Quan Martin picked it off and took it all the way to the house. Wow.

Terry McLaurin house call

Well, that was quick! On an RPO smoke screen out to McLaurin, the Commanders had a receiver and two blockers for two defensive backs, and it sprung McLaurin for a huge gain up the sideline. He then outran the rest of the defense 58 YARDS to the end zone. We're getting some scoring here, folks. (They've now changed it back to 58 yards instead of 59.)

SAM LAPORTA

WHAT AN OUTRAGEOUS CATCH BY SAM LAPORTA!!!!!!! And what a throw by Jared Goff while falling down! Looked just like the Mahomes-to-Kelce touchdown earlier today, except the catch on the back end was a ridiculous full-body extension one-handed snag.

Ertz QUESTIONABLE

Washington TE Zach Ertz is being evaluated for a concussion.

Goff missed Jameson Williams by about 6 inches on that deep ball. Sheesh.