Atlanta 31, Detroit 18: The above moment of celebratory uncertainty came before Calvin Johnson broke Jerry Rice's single-season receiving yards record—it came during a Falcons timeout while the Lions were down, in fact, which meant the confusion was sort of understandable—but it's appropriate considering the general gloom around Johnson's achievement. Jon Gruden and Mike Tirico were conflicted the about the record, prefacing it almost directly by talking about the Lions' seven-game losing streak, and the fact that many of Johnson's yards were racked up while Detroit was making desperate come-from-behind bids as their season has slipped away. Nevertheless, Lions fans cheered hard, Megatron is a joy to watch, and he broke the record in stride, surpassing Rice on this play in the fourth quarter:
He would end the game with 225 yards and good chance at 2000 yards for the season. Beyond that, a dominating performance from Matt Ryan (25/32, 4 TDs, 0 INT) and your standard derp-age from a late season, unusually scheduled game between a good team and a bad one: first, Jon Gruden drew a penis on the screen:
Then, a referee decided he'd just hang out in the endzone, because why would Matt Stafford throw it down the middle:
That did not work out, but it wouldn't particularly matter. Despite a late safety, the Lions didn't have much chance to rally, and the night was won by Atlanta (they'll finish the season with the best record in the NFC) and, of course, by #81 for Detroit. And the telestrator dong.