Lions vs. Saints: Best Social Reactions to Detroit's Win on Monday Night

Monday Night Football is a staple in many homes, can't-miss television for even casual football fans. But every so often, the fans are subjected to a prime-time game between two teams that draws little interest, except for fantasy football players with a game on the line.

Detroit's trip to New Orleans on Monday night was a classic example of why the prime-time NFL schedule should not be set before the season starts. Although there was an intriguing matchup of two top NFL quarterbacks, the lack of playoff implications took away from the typical excitement of a nationally televised game.

So what did we expect from the game? Strong performances from Drew Brees and Matthew Stafford against below-average defenses seemed to be a given, but it was actually one team's inability to get into the end zone that proved to be a deciding factor.

It wasn't just one play either; it was the consistent failures that turned the Saints' struggles into a popular talking point on social media.

With New Orleans already trailing 21-3 with one minute, 12 seconds left in the second quarter, Brees fired a pass up the sideline to Brandin Cooks for a 29-yard touchdown—or so it seemed.

The referees concluded Cooks was down a yard short of the end zone, which gave New Orleans a first down with 57 seconds left in the half.

One yard to go. Four plays to do it. Seems easy enough, right?

Michael Hoomanawanui (who has the NFL's coolest last name) got the first crack at six points, but his run came up short of the goal line. On second down, Tim Hightower got into the end zone with relative ease, only to see his touchdown nullified by an illegal-formation penalty.

On the next play, Hightower plunged forward for four yards to get back to the original line of scrimmage. On third down, Hightower was stuffed at the line and unable to break a tackle for the score.

The Saints then faced fourth down with just three seconds on the clock, and Detroit called a timeout just before New Orleans snapped the ball. Only, the Lions had already used all three of their timeouts. Fortunately for them, the referees hadn't noticed and awarded them an extra stoppage of play.

Now back to the action. On fourth down, Brees scrambled before finding Marques Colston...at the 1-yard line. But Colston's positioning becomes a moot point, because New Orleans had an ineligible receiver downfield, which ended the half in an extremely weird way.

How the Saints managed to have an ineligible man downfield on the 1-yard line is difficult enough to figure out, but adding that to Marques Colston's making a reception for no yardage on such a critical play seems to accurately sum up the Saints' struggles this year. So close, yet so far.

After such a wacky sequence of events, only one word could sum up what we had just witnessed:

Even Detroit's writers were at a loss for words at how the Saints managed to come up empty on their last possession of the first half.

SB Nation did the best job of putting this craziness into words, explaining the final sequence in one Tweet:

It's absolutely right—none of it mattered in the end.

Despite the 18-point halftime deficit, New Orleans got within one score late in the game, which proves how important a touchdown would have been to end the first half. If Cooks had gotten in the end zone or the Saints had avoided inexcusable penalties to end the half, they likely could have been headed to overtime on Monday night.

Instead, both teams are now 5-9 and likely headed for top-10 picks in the 2016 NFL draft.

What Monday night's result temporarily decided is that the New Orleans Saints will likely have a higher draft choice than Detroit, but there are two more weeks to decide that positioning.

With both New Orleans and Detroit eliminated from playoff contention, they will play their final two weeks for nothing more than pride and drafting order before regrouping in the offseason.

However, in the NFL, a win is a win, and the Lions were excited to pull out a tough road victory against such a high-powered offense.

Despite Brees' attempting to break every NFL passing record in one night, it wasn't enough to make up for his team's inept play in critical moments.

"

Drew Brees makes more history with his 10th straight season of 4,000 passing yards. And he may not be done yet. pic.twitter.com/ONH7pdYBWB

— ESPN Monday Night (@ESPNMondayNight) December 22, 2015"

If nothing else, Monday's result at least brought the city of New Orleans together...although it's because of a statistic it's probably not too proud of: