DETROIT — Well, what did you expect in the end?

Expecting the Giants were going to go into Ford Field and upset a heavily favored Lions team in desperate need of a win to keep its playoff hopes intact felt akin to expecting to see your numbers come up in the next Pick-6 drawing.

Expecting the Giants’ defense to hold off the explosive Lions offense when it counted in the fourth quarter was folly.

Giants quarterback Jameis Winston runs with the touchdown against the Lions on Nov. 23, 2025. AP

It was never going to happen.

The Giants, as expected, lost 34-27 to the Lions in overtime on Sunday in a positively scintillating 60 minutes of football theater.

The final dagger for the Giants was a 69-yard touchdown run by Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs on the first play of overtime after the Giants won the toss and opted to take the ball second.

The Giants, on their possession, failed to tie the game and it was over for them yet again, in a gut punch so painful you cannot make it up.

Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) breaks away for an overtime touchdown against the Giants on Nov. 23, 2025. AP

Converting on a fourth-and-10 play with a Jameis Winston scramble, the Giants got to the Detroit 27-yard line before their hopes for completing this massive upset were extinguished.

The final play was an Aidan Hutchinson sack of Winston on fourth-and-5.

The massive caveat to this loss, though, is how well the Giants played in losing.

They did so many good things in this game, beginning with the play of Winston, that this loss might have been the most maddening one of all in a season littered with them.

Jameis Winston (19) celebrates a touchdown against the Lions on a tricky play. AP

With Winston, who was playing in place of rookie starter Jaxson Dart with Dart in concussion protocol for the second consecutive game, the Giants built leads of 10-0 and 17-7 in the first half.

Through the first 30 minutes, Winston was almost perfect — 9-of-14 for 212 yards with two touchdown passes and a 147.3 passer rating.

Winston delivered a near-perfect performance. He was remarkable, completing 18-of-36 for 366 yards with two TD passes with one interception.

Even better, Winston caught a TD pass from punt returner and occasional receiver Gunner Olszewski — the first reception of his career and first TD pass of Olszewski’s career.

 The wild back-yard play gave the Giants a 27-17 lead with 12:16 remaining in the game.

That’s when things got weird for them, as usual.

The Lions answered rapidly — three plays later — with a 49-yard touchdown run by Gibbs, who rushed for 219 yards and two TDs on 15 carries, to make it 27-24 just 1:26 after the Giants’ trick play.

On the next Giants possession, Winston was picked off by Lions safety Thomas Harper with 10:45 remaining in the game.

The Lions failed to convert and the Giants went 14 plays and ate nearly six minutes of the clock before failing on fourth-and-goal from the Detroit 6-yard line with 2:54 remaining.

That gave the Lions the ball and set up yet another potential situation for the Giants’ defense to relinquish yet another fourth-quarter lead.

The Lions improved to 7-4 with the win. Jorge Lemus/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

The Giants entered the game having blown four fourth-quarter leads. This was the fifth and it hurt worse than the previous four.

The Lions methodically marched down the field and tied it at 27-27 on a 59-yard field goal by Jake Bates with 28 seconds remaining in regulation to send it to overtime.

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The loss was the 12th consecutive Giants defeat on the road, a franchise record that keeps growing. They’re 0-7 away from MetLife Stadium now.

It was their sixth consecutive loss and second in a row since they fired Brian Daboll and elevated offensive coordinator Mike Kafka to interim head coach.

The Giants have authored losing streaks of six or more games for the fourth season since 2019.

This game marked Mike Kafka’s second as interim head coach of the Giants. Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

They’re 2-10 for the season — the same embarrassing mark they had in 2017, 2019 and last season.

Even with the prospect of Dart — who sat out Sunday’s game after failing to clear concussion protocol for the second consecutive week — returning for the Giants’ final five games seems hopeless.

The Giants play again on Monday, Dec. 1, against the 9-2 Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., which would be Dart’s next chance to play if he clears the protocol.