Michael Strahan has been slammed by rival sports analyst Zach Gelb for his comments on Fox just moments after Detroit Lions lost to the Washington Commanders on Saturday night.

The Lions were beaten 45-31 by the Commanders in the upset of the weekend, with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels stunning Dan Campbell and his team at Ford Field with an astonishing display.

The Lions were the NFC’s No. 1 seed with home advantage and the pick for many to go all the way to New Orleans and win the Super Bowl.

But analyst Strahan focused more on telling the Lions they should be proud of their efforts given their injury list – the defensive line had been badly hit – rather than sad about their season being over.

‘Washington went out there 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 this is why; they had so many injuries on that team, especially defensively, and they still made it this far.

Michael Strahan said the Lions should be proud of their season after shock Commanders loss

Zach Gelb disagreed, given that many had backed the Lions to reach the Super Bowl 

‘And I think it just caught up with them. It’s hard to overcome that many defensive injuries, no matter how well they played later in the season defensively. This is the playoffs, it’s a whole different thing.’

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 right now say 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 just lost in the divisional round! Not the time for that!’

In his post-game press conference, Lions coach Dan Campbell appeared to fight back tears as he spoke about his team’s season ending.

‘It just hurts to lose, man,’ he said. ‘I don’t care if you’re the seven seed, six seed, five seed, one seed… cause I’ve lost all of them, damn near.’

As he became more and more emotional, Campbell later added: ‘What [the players] put into it, a lot of people don’t know what they go through. 

You have to get up, your body’s beat to s***, mentally stay locked in and do those things. Long season. It’s my fault. It’s my fault.’