Michael Strahan has been criticized by rival sports analyst Zach Gelb for his comments on Fox moments after the Detroit Lions lost to the Washington Commanders on Saturday night.
The Lions were defeated 45-31 by the Commanders in the weekend upset, with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels surprising Dan Campbell and his team at Ford Field with a stunning display.
The Lions were the number one seed in the NFC with home field advantage and the choice of many to go all the way to New Orleans and win the Super Bowl.
But analyst Strahan was more focused on telling the Lions that they should be proud of their efforts given their injury list (the defensive line had been badly affected) rather than being sad about the end of their season.
“Washington came out and played a great game,” Strahan said. “But for Detroit, I mean what a great season they had.
'They should be proud of their season and that's why; They had a lot of injuries on that team, especially on defense, and they still made it this far.
Michael Strahan said Lions should be proud of their season after Commanders' shock loss
Zach Gelb disagreed, given that many had rooted for the Lions to reach the Super Bowl.
And I think it just caught up with them. It's hard to overcome so many defensive injuries, no matter how well they played defensively later in the season. “This is the playoffs, it's something completely different.”
Aidan Hutchinson, Carlton Davis and Marcus Davenport were all out of the Commanders' game, while cornerback Amik Robertson broke his arm on the second play of the game.
But podcast host Gelb felt Strahan missed the mark with his sympathy for Detroit after such a surprising loss.
“There can't be a Lions fan on the planet who wants to hear Michael Strahan say right now how proud the Lions should be of the season they had with all the injuries they suffered,” Gelb posted on X.
'They were the number 1 seed and they just lost in the divisional round! This is not the time for that!'
In his postgame press conference, Lions coach Dan Campbell appeared to hold back tears as he talked about the end of his team's season.
“It just hurts to lose, man,” he said. “I don't care if you are the seed of seven, the seed of six, the seed of five, the seed of one… because I have lost them all, almost.”
As he became increasingly emotional, Campbell later added, “What (the players) put into this, a lot of people don't know what they go through.”
You have to get up, your body is beating like hell, mentally lock yourself in and do those things. Long season. It's my fault. It's my fault.'