After 11 consecutive victories, the Detroit Lions still found themselves in a position of needing to prove themselves.

Against the Buffalo Bills, an AFC powerhouse, Dan Campbell’s squad returned to the field healthier and eager to play cleaner football.

“I think we’ve got to get a little bit better all the way around. There’s things that we, even as good as we played, that we can still do so much better offensively,” Campbell said on FOX 2 Detroit. “But defensively, too, even these new guys that we asked to come in and help, they really did, but they’re here again for another week and we need them to play better. The guys that we count on, the Kerby’s, the Branch’s, the Jack Campbell’s, I could go down the list, Alim McNeill. We need your absolute best every week, as we ask of everybody.”

Detroit is battling for the No. 1 seed in the NFC. A home victory would see the goal of home-field advantage throughout the postseason that much closer to attain.

Buffalo was seeking to take advantage of a Lions defense that has been revamped due to injuries, especially at the linebacker position.

After 60 minutes of action, Detroit was dealt a rude awakening. Buffalo executed at a high level offensively, and found its way into the end zone repeatedly.

Here are several takeaways from the Lions’ 48-42 loss to the Bills:

Lions’ offense starts slow, Bills start fast

After the Bills won the opening coin toss and deferred, Detroit took the field with the No. 1 ranked scoring offense.

Unfortunately, Detroit’s offense went three-and-out and did not gain a single yard on its opening possession. Goff had two incompletions, and running back David Montgomery found little real es