DETROIT -- Matthew Stafford grabbed his midsection. He went to the locker room. He came out. He tried to throw. It wasn’t going to be good enough. That much was clear late Sunday, as Stafford kept warming up attempting to get loose.

The Detroit Lions know what the Stafford-less world is like offensively. The club lived it a season ago, when he missed the final eight games of the season with a back injury.

The Lions hoped an injury to knock him out of a game wouldn’t happen again. Then, on Sunday, it did.

Stafford had already been playing with an injured right hand -- although he’s had some of his best games of the season playing hurt -- but the rib injury he suffered late in Detroit’s 31-24 loss to Green Bay was too much for him to play on.

Stafford has played through a lot in his career, but if he’s out for any length of time, it completely alters an offense that seemed to finally find something in the last two weeks under interim head coach and still-offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Against Chicago a week ago, Stafford took multiple deep shots in an improbable come-from-behind win over the Bears.

He wasn’t as aggressive Sunday -- the Packers’ defense didn’t allow for that -- but he still moved the ball well, completing 24 of 34 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown. Bevell showed some creativity with him in, too, including calling another flea flicker that failed.

But the Lions have been down a path without their quarterback before and they know what it looks like.

The Lions signed backup Chase Daniel in case of this scenario, but they obviously hoped Daniel would never have to play. And for the second time this season, Daniel entered in relief of an injured Stafford. Unlike against Minnesota, the rib injury he suffered on a fourth-quarter scramble was enough to keep him out even as he returned to the sideline and tried to test it out enough to go back in.

Detroit trailed by 10 points by the time the Lions had an option to go back on offense again. Daniel did an OK job managing the offense, but with a group already down receiver Kenny Golladay and right tackle Tyrell Crosby -- and playing with a banged-up Marvin Jones in the final two minutes -- it had no real chance for explosiveness.

Which is going to be something to watch for the Lions over the last three weeks of the season, especially with the team heading toward a new head coach and general manager after the season.

Buy on Marvin Jones: It isn’t the prettiest stat-line for him -- four catches for 48 yards, although he lost out on a bunch of yards on an unbelievable non-catch that looked like an actual grab, but since Golladay has been out with a hip injury, Jones has been a valuable piece for Detroit heading into free agency.

Biggest hole in the game plan: As has been the case for much of the season, Detroit’s linebackers struggled covering anyone with speed and couldn’t hold coverage for all that long. Aaron Rodgers seemed to try and pick on Jahlani Tavai especially -- it appeared to be Tavai’s assignment on the game-sealing touchdown pass to Packers tight end Robert Tonyan -- but the entire unit was a problem. Jamie Collins, as usual, had a couple of nice plays but not enough of them. Combine that with a pass rush unable to do much without Trey Flowers and Everson Griffen and it was not going to add up to much for the Lions. It’s just not something that can be fixed this season.

Pivotal play: The Lions appeared to have a defensive three-and-out to start the second half. But cornerback Amani Oruwariye was flagged for defensive holding, turning a stop into a first down and over a half-a-quarter later, Green Bay’s go-ahead touchdown. At the time it seemed like a small play -- and the Lions couldn’t take advantage of two first-down holding penalties called on the Packers on the drive -- but it ended up being a massive issue for an undermanned-to-begin with defensive unit.

Eye-popping stat: With the loss, the Lions will now go three straight seasons without a winning record as the best the club can do is 8-8. The last time Detroit had a winning season was in 2017, when the Lions went 9-7 and fired Jim Caldwell, leading to the hiring of Matt Patricia.