Matthew Stafford sets NFL record for most comebacks in a season

Matthew Stafford set a record on Sunday by becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to lead eight game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime in a single season. Against the Chicago Bears, he cheated a little bit. The Lions led the entire game until Stafford threw a bad pick-six, giving the Bears a four-point lead with over seven minutes left.

But that’s when true fourth-quarter Stafford took over. From there, he led Detroit on a seven-play, 76-yard drive that ended in an impressive scramble, truck and touchdown from Stafford.

Here’s a recap of all of Stafford’s other seven game-winning drives:

Week 1

After giving up the go-ahead score with just 37 seconds left, the Lions had to get into field goal position from their own 25-yard line with three timeouts left. Stafford went 3-for-4 for 40 yards and gave Matt Prater the chance at a 43-yard field goal, which he easily nailed for the win over the Colts.

Week 5

After a Darius Slay forced fumble gave the Lions good field position down two against the Eagles with 2:34 remaining, Stafford did a good job giving Prater a chip-shot field goal. A huge completion to Golden Tate on third-and-4 put the Lions in the red zone, and Prater again was true from 29-yards for the field goal.

Week 6

In a shootout with the Los Angeles Rams, Stafford had a short field and tie game with five minutes remaining to deal with. He responded by milking all but 1:29 off the clock and gave Prater another easy chip-shot field goal.

Week 7

This is where GOAT Stafford started to kick in. Washington had just scored a touchdown with 1:05 left to take the lead, making Skip Bayless think Kirk Cousins picked up a game-winning score. But Stafford drove the Lions 75 yards in just 49 seconds for the game-winning score and his fourth comeback of the year.

Week 9

This game was lost. The Lions were down three to the Vikings with just 23 seconds left, but then Stafford led not one, but two huge drives. First, he threw a 27-yard bullet to Andre Roberts to set up the game-tying score. Then in overtime, Stafford was nearly perfect, completing five of six passes including the flip-inducing touchdown score from Golden Tate.

Week 11

On the Stafford comeback scale, this was a two out of 10. The Lions trailed only by three with over 13 minutes remaining. Stafford immediately led the team on seven-play, 79-yard drive to take the lead, then followed it up with an insurance field goal drive, pushing Detroit’s lead over Jacksonville to 26-19.

Week 12

On Thanksgiving against the Vikings, Stafford led the Lions on a crucial game-tying drive by going 10 plays for 68 yards that ended with a 48-yard field goal with 1:45 left. His game-winning drive consisted of a single kneel down, thanks to a timely Darius Slay interception. Sometimes we need help from our friends.