Late in the first quarter of the Detroit Lions’ loss to the Green Bay Packers on Thursday Night Football, Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson went up and made a catch along the sideline that was simply impressive.
The 6-5 Johnson is no stranger to doing incredible things on the receiving end of the football, but the catch that gave the Lions an early 16-0 lead still impressed many. Including Bears tackle Kyle Long.
Unfortunately for the Lions, on the last play of the game, that ended in a completed touchdown pass on a Packers Hail Mary, Johnson wasn’t in the game — even though he would be one of the best deterrents of the play that the NFL has to offer.
Jim Caldwell after the game (Via MLive):
Lions coach Jim Caldwell said after the game Johnson wasn’t on the field because he was anticipating a lateral play.
“In that situation, we have a couple of different things that we do,” Caldwell said. “That was one where we were looking more for that pass back and forth kind of thing, because of the range. He (Aaron Rodgers) ran around there so long, moved up, gave himself a chance to get it in the end zone.
“We had plenty of guys back there. We had plenty of guys. We just didn’t make the play. They did.”
Coach Long probably would have used Megatron in that situation.
61 yards. One Throw.
— NFL (@NFL) December 4, 2015
This is how one of the craziest finishes in NFL history went down. #GBvsDET https://t.co/01AamoDd8J