DETROIT – The Detroit Lions (12-2) had their 11-game winning streak snapped, losing to the Buffalo Bills (11-3) 48-42 in Week 15 at Ford Field.

Here are three things we learned from the team’s first loss since mid-September.

Josh Allen and the Bills provided the blueprint for attacking Detroit’s struggling defense

Having an alien as your quarterback certainly helps. But with so many new pieces playing key roles in Detroit’s defense, it’s about pushing the boundaries and forcing additional communication and on-the-fly guesswork. Josh Allen came out of the pocket, bought time and destroyed this group with leaky running backs and tight ends.

Let’s say you’re a team with a mobile quarterback facing these Lions. In this case, it’s almost better to break the pocket, change the angle, and do whatever you can to put the defense in a multiple-choice situation with the ball in your playmaker’s hands.

That’s where the Lions and their defense failed on Sunday; As they charged at Allen, he ripped the ball over their heads, giving them a big lead. When they stayed behind cover, he either dropped it underneath or won with his ability to charge powerfully. And when they did something between those two options, things got even worse.

Allen finished the game with 362 passing yards and two touchdowns, adding 68 yards and two more scores on the ground. He wasn’t sacked, managed to free himself despite several attempts and kept the Detroit Bills firing on all cylinders.

Now let’s make one thing clear. Allen is a unicorn. He’s a 6-foot, 220-pound dynamo who throws like a starter and runs with the mentality and power of a charging buffalo. But this is a blueprint to keep in mind: Accept the unexpected, let this defense think about every option as much as possible, and pair running backs and tight ends with the quarterback on passing plays.

The Lions have already been missing four of their top five linebackers since the start of the season. They were also without Trevor Nowaske, who was second among linebackers in snaps in last week’s win. Jack Campbell did his best to stop things on the second level. But this struggling group was the Achilles’ heel against Allen and the Bills on Sunday afternoon.

On the one hand, there is no one like Allen. On the other hand, it would be wise for Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles to learn well before the postseason. Find ways to get that patched-together defense communicating on the fly, and that’s how you can catch them.

Aaron Glenn’s unit has responded well to adversity all year. But losing Alim McNeill and Carlton Davis III in addition to everyone else creates a nightmare situation. The Lions are running out of options, and the free agent market and practice squad offers won’t always be there. From here on out, the focus needs to be on getting the new pieces well acquainted with the playbook and up to speed, because they’re here and the Lions need them to play a ton of snaps.

Still, the Lions have won plenty of games with an undermanned defense, and they won’t have to face another Allen unless these two meet again in February.

“We knew we had to keep him (Allen) there unless we were in certain coverages. And it would take a lot of discipline at the top,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said. “And then there would be those things, especially the third level, where we could go out and get him, and we had a few of those.

“And then maybe someone trying to spy on him has to get him, and we couldn’t get him. Look, he’s a big problem. I mean, he’s tough, and we knew that from the start, and definitely we wanted to be able to handle it better, but it was just one of those days where we “We just couldn’t do it.”

The Lions aren’t themselves when they can’t run

It’s like Ricky Bobby doesn’t know what to do with his hands. I’m not even trying to be funny. That’s all I can think of when I try to explain what the Lions look like when they can’t run the ball.

Last week, efficiency struggled and there were few explosive or near-explosive plays. This week the flow of play, missed opportunities and David Montgomery’s injury contributed to the lack of effectiveness. It is now reported that Montgomery is out indefinitely with an MCL injury.

That will be difficult to overcome for an offense that has trouble running the ball. Gibbs will take on a larger role on offense, and the Lions will certainly add Craig Reynolds and rookie Sione Vaki into the equation.

But the Lions opened Sunday’s game with the ball. They threw an incomplete pass, Montgomery ran unsuccessfully and Jared Goff threw another incomplete pass, and that was it. Less than four minutes later, they were down 7-0. The next drive followed a similar script, moving the chains once, running 1 yard once, and then moving away again. And five minutes later? They were down 0:14.

Detroit only ran the ball 15 times. Jared Goff was the team’s second-best runner. Kudos to the Lions quarterback for making something happen, but this is a disastrous recipe. Montgomery had 4 yards on five carries.

Gibbs made several plays in the passing game (83 yards) and showed flashes on the ground. But he couldn’t find the rhythm while the offense struggled to keep up all day, not to mention the defense struggled to get off the field.

Montgomery is an important part of this team’s identity, so replacing him and getting that ground game back on track is another tough task for a team struggling with a long Montgomery roster.

“We never got our run game going, which should be a focus, and even out of those 15 runs we just could never get it going,” Campbell said. “So that’s two weeks in a row. It’s not good enough. And they aren’t. That’s who we are, and that’s what’s frustrating. We’re better than this.”

Dan Campbell is always looking for ways to be aggressive

Calling an onside kick before it happens? Where is the spirit of the game? An alternative title for this section would be “The Competition Committee Must Get Back to Kickoff Rules.”

But alas, let’s talk about what’s sure to dominate sports talk radio and message boards on Monday.

The Lions attempted an onside kick after cutting the lead to 10 points with about 12 minutes to play. At that point it was 38-28, Bills quarterback Josh Allen was playing at an MVP level and Detroit’s offense was awake and trying to storm back.

Campbell decided to try to steal one and keep the ball out of Allen’s hands. Consider it one of his many fourth-down gambles. The head coach saw a path to a potential stolen possession, regardless of the chances (7.3%), and went for it. There aren’t many coaches who would take that risk, and while there’s good reason for that, this beat writer can’t help but respect that belief.

The worst-case scenario on this play was that Mack Hollins caught the ball on the fly and took it almost all the way. The Bills scored on the next snap and quickly increased the lead to 17 points.

“I just thought we were going to get the possession,” Campbell said. “I thought we were going to get the ball. It was one of (Jake) Bates’ best kicks I’ve ever seen. That was a big kick at the end, you know? The thing made a good jump on us and Hollins made a great try.

“And you know, of course, sitting here now (in hindsight) after they made it to the 3-yard line, yeah, I wish I hadn’t done that, but it is what it is.”

The design and execution of the onside kick, which still has 12 seconds left, is also commendable. Despite all the odds, the Lions had a brief glimmer of hope. They also showed deep faith in Bates and special teams coordinator Dave Fipp to pull off one of football’s most improbable plays.

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