Twice within the last 25 seconds of Sunday’s game against the Steelers, the Lions celebrated touchdowns that likely would have meant not just a victory but a driver’s seat to the postseason.

And twice flags were thrown that wiped away most of those playoff hopes and created one of the more chaotic finishes you will see.

“We weren’t able to close it out and at the end of the day, it’s on us,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell told reporters, declining to blame officials who later explained the controversial and game-swinging penalties.

The tension began when the driving Lions, trailing 29-24 in the final minute in Detroit, had advanced within 1 yard of a go-ahead touchdown. Jared Goff found Amon-Ra St. Brown wide open in the end zone — but he was wide open because officials believed receiver Isaac TeSlaa had set a pick that freed St. Brown. Lions fans surely would contend that TeSlaa was pushed prior to that screen.

“The reporting official on that play told me that the offending player picked one of the defenders, creating an opportunity for the offensive player to make the catch,” referee Carl Cheffers told pool reporter Nolan Bianchi of the Detroit News.

Asked if the contact had occurred beyond a yard of the line of scrimmage, Cheffers said: “Well, it has to be beyond a yard or it would not be a foul. The ruling on the field was that the action occurred beyond a yard.”

There was still time on the clock for the Lions to regroup. With eight seconds left, Goff hit St. Brown on the doorstep of the end zone, and he was driven back a few yards. Before hitting the ground, St. Brown tossed the ball backward toward Goff, who caught it and darted into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown as time expired.

Yet again, there were flags: Officials felt St. Brown had shoved Steelers cornerback Jalen Ramsey to break free prior to the catch.

“The official who called the foul said that the receiver created separation that gave him an advantage in catching the pass,” Cheffers said.

After a lengthy discussion, officials ruled the touchdown did not count and the game was over. A penalty on the offensive side with zero seconds on the clock, by rule, ends the half or game without another play.

Why the long discussion?

“It is a pretty complex play,” Cheffers said. “We had the original player who had the ball, lose possession of the ball. So, we had to decide if that was a fumble or a backwards pass because of course we have restrictions on the recovery of a fumble inside of two minutes.

“We ruled that it was a backward pass, so the recovering player was able to advance it and that recovering player advanced it for a touchdown. We had to rule on that and then because of the offensive pass interference, it negates the touchdown. Because it is an offensive foul, we do not extend the half.”