Detroit Lions win 41-38 thriller over the Los Angeles Chargers: Game recap, highlights

The Detroit Lions, fully healthy and rested, returned to action Sunday on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers and won a 41-38 shootout on a last-second field goal by Riley Patterson.

The Lions got the ball last and made the most of it to move to 3-0 against AFC West opponents on the season and 7-2 overall. It is the Lions best start to the season since 2014. The two-headed backfield of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery led the way with 193 yards and three touchdowns combined.

The game kicked off from SoFi Stadium at 4:05 p.m. and will be televised on CBS. The Lions were a 2½-point road favorite.

Check out the game recap below.

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Final: Lions hit last second field goal for 41-38 win

The Lions took the final three minutes off the clock to close the game with a 41-yard game-winning kick by Riley Patterson. Jared Goff led a composed drive into field goal range, starting with a 41-yard completion on a catch and run from Kalif Raymond. He completed three more passes, including a fourth down conversion to Sam LaPorta, to make the kick easier for Patterson. The fourth down call was the deciding moment of the game because the Lions were already in field goal range but pushed for the extra set of downs to ensure the Chargers' offense wouldn't touch the field again.

3:34, fourth quarter: Keenan Allen scores second TD, ties game at 38

The back-and-forth battle in the second half continues. The Chargers answered the Brock Wright touchdown with a 38-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen on fourth down to knot the game at 38. The Chargers ran a play-action rollout and Allen snuck in between the safety and cornerback on the sideline to get open. Herbert found him on the run and Allen cut back to the middle of the field to streak past Kerby Joseph to score. Herbert is still dialed in and completed all of his passes on the drive. The L.A. quarterback is 27-of-40 for 323 yards and four touchdowns.

7:30, fourth quarter: Brock Wright scores first TD of 2023, Lions lead 38-31

Brock Wright, the Lions' run-blocking tight end, scored his first touchdown of the season at the perfect time to give the Lions the lead heading into the final stretch. On third-and-1, Detroit took all of its receivers off the field, signaling they wanted to run it with David Montgomery for the first down. Instead, Goff faked the handoff to Montgomery and floated it to Wright, who snuck past the defense for the easy touchdown. Goff connected with his two rookies, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta, a few times earlier on the drive to move Detroit into Chargers territory. Sam LaPorta became the first tight end in NFL history to record at least three catches in each of their first nine career games.

11:30, fourth quarter: Quentin Johnston scores first career touchdown to tie game at 31

The Lions defense held strong for seven plays inside of their own 10-yard line but couldn't get a stop on fourth down to keep the Chargers from tying the game again. On fourth down, Herbert found Johnston wide open in the end zone on a play-action pass from the one yard line. The Lions initially thought they had a goal line stand after forcing an incompletion on fourth down but a pass interference penalty on Cam Sutton extended the drive. The Lions stuffed three straight runs from Justin Herbert and Austin Ekeler before giving up the touchdown.

4:31, third quarter: Amon-Ra St. Brown scores on WR screen, Lions lead 31-24

The tie did not last for long thanks to Amon-Ra St. Brown. He scraped a low pass from Jared Goff off his shoelaces on a wide receiver screen and burst upfield between blockers for a 20-yard touchdown. St. Brown had another catch for 33 yards the play before to set up the touchdown. He is up to a career-high 144 yards on seven catches so far — the sixth time he's broken 100 yards this season. Calvin Johnson and Herman Moore are the only other Lions wide receivers to ever have four straight games over 100 yards.

7:59, third quarter: Herbert finds Jalen Guyton for TD, tie game at 24

The Lions could not do anything with the ball to start the second half and punted. The Chargers put together a 10-play, 92-yard drive to tie the game, finished with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Guyton down the seam between Cam Sutton and Kerby Joseph. The Lions are struggling mightily to slow down Justin Herbert, who was 7-of-8 for 60 yards on the drive, and could not generate pressures on his dropbacks. Star wide receiver Keenan Allen, who scored in the first half, left the game mid-drive with a shoulder injury.

Halftime: Austin Ekeler scores last-second TD, Lions lead 24-17 at break

The Lions couldn't slow down Justin Herbert and the Chargers in the final drive before halftime. Herbert calmly fired the ball all over the field to move L.A. inside the Lions' five-yard line with 30 seconds left. Austin Ekeler finished the job from there with a one-yard touchdown on fourth down with 23 seconds left.

Dan Campbell was upset by the last-second score but there is plenty of good from the first half to be pleased with for Detroit. The Lions reached the Chargers' red zone on each of their offensive possessions and scored three touchdowns and one field goal. The only mistake came on a turnover on downs from the one-yard line. David Montgomery is already over 100 yards thanks to his 75-yard touchdown run and Jahmyr Gibbs added 72 yards and two touchdowns of his own on 10 carries. Jared Goff was 10-of-15 for 130 yards and his favorite target was Amon-Ra St. Brown, who had four catches for 76 yards.

The Lions had a good start defensively but surrendered touchdowns on the final two L.A. drives of the half. Justin Herbert is 14-of-24 for 179 yards, one touchdown and one interception by Kerby Joseph. Keenan Allen has eight catches for 113 yards and a score but Austin Ekeler was largely kept in check with 24 yards on eight carries.

3:07, second quarter: David Montgomery breaks 75-yard TD, Lions lead 24-10

Well, that did not take long for the Lions to rebuild their lead.

On the first play of the subsequent drive, David Montgomery took a handoff up the middle and turned it into a homerun 75-yard touchdown run. Montgomery had a big hole up the middle to reach the second level and then he put his right foot in the dirt to cut to the left sidelines and outrace the Chargers defense. Jameson Williams had a massive block downfield to keep Montgomery clean. The play was reviewed to see if Montgomery stayed inbounds but the call stood. It was the longest rushing touchdown for the Lions since 2011 when Jahvid Best had an 88-yard score.

3:21, second quarter: Keenan Allen scores 29-yard TD, Lions lead cut to 17-10

The Chargers put together their best drive of the game so far to answer with a touchdown. Justin Herbert found Keenan Allen, who had a step on Jerry Jacobs because of a double move, for a 30-yard touchdown to pull the game within one score. Herbert was 4-of-6 for 64 yards on the drive.

7:30, second quarter: Gibbs scores goal line TD on 4th down, Lions lead 17-3

The Lions nearly failed on the second consecutive drive from the L.A. one-yard line, but Jahmyr Gibbs bowled through the line on fourth down for his second touchdown of the first half. It was a similar story for Detroit, who easily moved the ball down to the red zone but had to fight to finish the drive. Gibbs had 33 total yards on six touches on the drive. Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams also had catches for first downs to keep the drive moving. The Lions have reached at least the red zone on each of their four drives and have ran 12 plays inside the L.A. 20, compared to just 15 overall for the Chargers.

13:09, second quarter: Lions fail from the goal line, lead remains 10-3

Detroit could not capitalize on the turnover and build a two-possession lead. The Lions had a 12-play drive that reached the one-yard line which included two fourth down conversions with runs from David Montgomery and Amon-Ra St. Brown. But the Lions couldn't convert on fourth down a third time as Jared Goff fired out of the back of the end zone to avoid a sack. Montgomery was stuffed on two runs from the one prior to the failed fourth down.

3:50, first quarter: Kerby Joseph intercepts Justin Herbert

The Lions have a chance to build on their early lead thanks to an impressive toe-tapping interception by Kerby Joseph. On the second play of the Chargers' drive, Herbert threw towards the sideline to recycle the play, but Joseph slid in front for the turnover while keeping his extremities in bounds. The Lions took over at the L.A. 33-yard line.

Kerby Joseph is now the first player in Lions franchise history with at least six interceptions and two forced fumbles through the first two seasons of their career.

4:18, first quarter: Jahmyr Gibbs powers entire drive, finishes with TD, Lions lead 10-3

Jahmyr Gibbs' role in the offense seems safe despite David Montgomery's return to the lineup. The rookie had four carries for 52 yards on the drive and finished it with a one-yard plunge into the end zone off the left side of the line. He set up the touchdown with a sideline-to-sideline 35-yard run where he nearly scored tiptoeing the sidelines the play before.

It is the third consecutive week Gibbs has scored a touchdown, making him the first Lions rookie to do so since Kevin Smith in 2008. He also jones James Jones (1983) as the only Lions to produce 50+ scrimmage yards in each of their first seven career NFL games

6:54, first quarter: Chargers respond with field goal, tie the game at 3

The Chargers answered the field goal with a kick of their own the next possession. L.A. moved into Detroit territory on a 24-yard screen pass to Austin Ekeler. Detroit forced the offense off the field over the next three plays, leading to a 48-yard field goal from Cameron Dicker. Alex Anzalone had two tackles on the drive.

10:09, first quarter: Lions take 3-0 lead with opening field goal

The Lions picked up where they left off offensively against the Raiders with a quick drive down the field, but flamed out in the end zone to force a field goal. Jared Goff got the drive started with a 46-yard completion to Amon-Ra St. Brown on a deep post. Two plays later, Jameson Williams scored on a wide receiver screen but it was nullified because of an illegal chop block by Taylor Decker. The Lions couldn't overcome the penalty and Jack Fox nailed the 33-yard kick for the early lead.

The Lions won the coin toss and deferred. Detroit's defense managed to generate pressure on Justin Herbert on the first third down of the game to force an immediate three-and-out to set up the field goal.

Pregame notes

Under Dan Campbell, the Lions have thrived after the bye week. Detroit used the time off to get fully healthy, especially on the offensive line, and is looking to close the season strong and win its division for the first time in 30 years.

The Lions will see the return of their bruising running back David Montgomery (six TDs in five games), who missed the past two games with a rib injury, and center Frank Ragnow (toe), who missed one game. Left guard Jonah Jackson is also back after missing three games (ankle) and right guard Graham Glasgow will get the starting nod over Halapoulivaati Vaitai (back).

Newly acquired wide receiver Donovan People-Jones will have to wait to make his Lions debut. The former Browns receiver was listed as inactive along with Vaitai, defensive linemen Levi Onwuzurike (hip) and Brodric Martin, linebacker Trevor Nowaske and cornerback Steven Gilmore.

The Lions look to their high-powered offense on track against a Chargers defense coming off back-to-back strong performances against the Jets and Chicago Bears. L.A. has held teams to an average of 21.7 points per game and have Pro Bowl defenders in Derwin James, Joey Bosa and Kahlil Mack.

On the other side of the ball, all eyes will be focused on standout quarterback Justin Herbert. The 25-year-old is widely considered one of the best passers in the league and it will be up to the Lions secondary, which has been exposed at times this season, to slow him down. The Lions hope to get Aidan Hutchinson and the pass rush back on schedule this week to disrupt Herbert’s timing. Austin Ekeler and Keenan Allen are dynamic skill players.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions vs. Los Angeles Chargers: Game recap, highlights