There was more excitement for this Detroit Lions season than in many, many years. Maybe ever. And it almost started with a home loss.

There was plenty of nerves around Michigan as the Los Angeles Rams jumped out to a late lead. But many championship teams grow stronger through close victories, and the Lions could look back on Sunday night’s game as a building block for better things.

The Lions can count themselves lucky to be 1-0. The Rams put on a fantastic performance, led by impressive performances from Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp, to lead into the final minutes of regulation. But the Lions drove down the stretch to tie the game with a field goal, then won in overtime. The Lions won the coin toss and marched to the right, with the running game taking huge chunks of yards. David Montgomery scored on a 1-yard touchdown run on the first drive of overtime, and the Lions won 26-20. It was an eight-play drive in overtime, and the Lions ran it seven times.

There may be some concern that the Lions defense won’t cover anyone or give up a 17-3 lead, but the mood in Michigan will still be pretty upbeat on Monday. The way the Lions took control in overtime was a statement.

Rams fight for late lead

The Rams’ performance on Sunday night was impressive considering the challenges they faced.

They had a lot of lineup issues before the game started and they got worse after kickoff. The offensive line needed several players. Star receiver Puka Nacua, who suffered a knee injury in August, injured the same knee in the first half. He tried to come back into the game but was knocked out shortly after and was taken out at halftime. When they fell behind 17-3, it looked like they were in for a long night. No one would have blamed them if they had lost in Detroit with a limited lineup.

Still, the Rams were in the game in the fourth quarter. The Rams scored a touchdown to cut Detroit’s lead to 17-10, and even when an apparent tying touchdown was canceled for holding, the Rams settled for a field goal and trailed 17-13. Jared Goff threw an interception in Rams territory, giving Los Angeles a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter.

Stafford was fantastic on the Rams’ next drive, completing all eight of his passes, including a 9-yard touchdown to Kupp. The Rams led with 4:30 to go.

The Lions were probably not happy about letting the Rams get back into the game and take the lead, but they held their ground and forced overtime.

Lions struggle to cover Cooper Kupp

The Lions defense had made significant improvements in the offseason, particularly at cornerback, but there were issues Sunday night. In particular, they couldn’t cover Kupp. They did get a crucial stop late in the fourth quarter.

The Rams had a chance to run out the rest of the clock, but were forced to score after Stafford threw an incomplete on third-and-10. The Lions had a chance to at least tie it, with more than two minutes left on the clock.

The Lions had a chance next. Sam LaPorta caught a pass over the middle and 15 yards were added on an unnecessary roughness penalty for a helmet-to-helmet hit on the tackle. That put the Lions within range of a field goal with time left and two timeouts to use. The Lions had a chance to win it in regulation, but Goff missed a third-down pass and Detroit settled for a tying field goal with 17 seconds left. The game went to overtime.

The Lions won the coin toss. Detroit got right into Rams territory with two big runs on their first two plays. They kept running the ball down the field, with Montgomery driving it in for the winning score. It wasn’t always pretty for the Lions, but they take the end result.