MINNEAPOLIS — The Lions were hoping to show who they really are, to recapture their identity and rekindle their playoff hopes. Instead, they showed up and confirmed what they’ve become, a battered, broken team, beaten soundly in all the areas they used to control.

The Lions couldn’t block anyone, couldn’t hold onto the ball, could barely stagger to the disastrous finish. And yes, the season is finished, if not on the calendar, certainly where it matters.

The Lions will miss the playoffs for the first time in three years after getting manhandled by the Vikings, 23-10, Thursday in U.S. Bank Stadium. On Christmas Day, the Lions and Vikings delivered heaping sacks of sacks, a truly hideous display of offense.

The Lions committed six turnovers (they had eight all season), including five by Jared Goff. One final indignity awaits next Sunday, when the Lions face the first-place Bears in Chicago, trying to avoid last place.

From 15-2 a year ago to 8-8 is hard to comprehend, especially with most of the roster back and key players re-signed. But if you’ve watched closely, including their last three defeats, it’s easier to understand. The Lions expired where they used to thrive, in the trenches, mainly the offensive line. Through injuries, ineffectiveness and one notable retirement, they’re a shadow of their former selves.

“I know this, it doesn’t take much for things to get off balance,” coach Dan Campbell said. “I’m gonna be looking at a lot of things, because I do not like being home for the playoffs, and I know our guys don’t either. (GM) Brad (Holmes) and I will have a lot of decisions to make. A lot of things to look at — the whats, the whys, how do we improve?”

They rarely looked like a first-place team this season. They played like a last-place team on this day, and that’s where they sit, alongside the Vikings at 8-8. The outcome was particularly ridiculous considering the Lions came in with faint playoff hopes — they needed two victories and two Green Bay losses — while the Vikings had no hopes, loads of injuries on their offensive line and an undrafted rookie at quarterback.

Goff was sacked five times, lost three fumbles and threw two interceptions. The Lions sacked Max Brosmer seven times and somehow managed to do the inconceivable — they held Minnesota to 3 yards passing and lost.

The atmosphere in the locker room afterward was more somber than shock. This had been trending for a while, since center Frank Ragnow retired before the season and another round of injuries began. Five hours before kickoff Thursday, tackle Dan Skipper got word he’d have to start at left tackle in place of Taylor Decker, who came up sick. It was a difficult adjustment, compounded by the already-unsettled line.

“We had aspirations of doing a lot this year, and here we are going to Cancun the first week of January,” Skipper said. “It sucks, it’s disappointing, it’s hard to swallow, it’s irritating, I don’t know what other words I can use. They schemed us well, and they got some dudes over there. But I don’t think you ever expect to go out there and get whupped.”

The Lions were whupped thoroughly, and it wasn’t the first time. The key was to get Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery rolling in the run game, and it never happened. The Lions finished with 68 yards rushing, the seventh time they’ve been held under 100 this season. They lost all seven games.

Against the Vikings’ fierce, complex, blitz-happy defense, the Lions started a backup tackle (Skipper), a guard just returning from a broken leg (Christian Mahogany), a center making his second career start (Kingsley Eguakun), a rookie guard (Tate Ratledge) and an All-Pro tackle in Penei Sewell, who left the game briefly with an injury.

“I hate losing, we hate losing (but) the effort’s there, we’re just a little off and it’s costing us significantly,” Campbell said. “Too many turnovers, just couldn’t overcome it. … We’ve lost a lot of players and always been able to bounce back and find a way to win.”

The Lions were scrambling in this one, perhaps even panicking. Eguakun made his second straight start even though Graham Glasgow was apparently healthy. Eguakun committed a false start that aborted a fourth-down attempt on the opening drive. On the next drive, he snapped too quickly and Goff lost the fumble at the Lions’ 16, setting up the Vikings’ first touchdown.

It took an astounding batch of mistakes for the Lions to lose. They came in tied for fewest turnovers in the league and delivered a sackful of them. Brosmer made his second start in place of the injured J.J. McCarthy and completed 9 of 16 passes for 51 yards. The team passing total was sack-adjusted to 3 yards, which somehow isn’t a record.

Goff was under siege all game, hounded by the Vikings’ blitzes and the Lions’ inexperience on the line. He finished 18 for 29 for 197 yards, and the lone touchdown was a 4-yard pass on fourth down to Isaac TeSlaa that made it 7-7 at halftime.

The Vikings needed one big play to clinch it, and they got a 65-yard, end-around run by Jordan Addison late in the game to make it 20-10. The Lions had no explosive plays, and frankly, didn’t try very hard to hit one. Where was Jameson Williams on an end-around, or a reverse? Where were the screen passes to blunt the Vikings’ rush?

Those will be tough questions for Campbell the head coach, as well as Campbell the play-caller. Goff, for one, had few answers.

“(Avoiding turnovers) is something we’ve been really good at all year, and it sucks that it reared its head today,” Goff said. “They did a good job on defense. They exploited some things on us and were able to get after us, adding an extra rusher a lot of times. We had a good plan that we thought could attack with, and it didn’t work well enough.”

There are lots of reasons the Lions collapsed, and lots of time in the offseason to debate them. Campbell and Holmes have plenty to consider, in who they draft and who they sign and how they play offense and defense. They displayed more arrogance than urgency this season, with no bold moves and few adjustments on either side of the ball.

The rude awakening actually began seven weeks ago, when the Vikings came to Detroit, sacked Goff five times and won, 27-24. The Lions tried to play like the team they used to be, and thought they still were. And clearly aren’t.

Reestablishing their identity meant reestablishing their running game, and it’s not as easy as just saying it. Holmes didn’t adequately address the offensive line after Ragnow’s retirement, and also left the defensive front short of healthy bodies. When injuries wracked the secondary — losing star safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph was a crusher — the Lions struggled to shift from physical man-to-man coverage, and some of that is on first-time coordinator Kelvin Sheppard.

When Campbell and Holmes begin their postseason analysis, they must heed their own words, the ones Campbell uttered three years ago after the Lions blew a 24-7 halftime lead and lost to the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game: “I told those guys, this may have been our only shot. Do I think that? No. Do I believe that? No. However, I know how hard it is to get here.”

Point proven. After this humbling elimination, Campbell wasn’t ready to turn introspective, but essentially reiterated the theme.

“Everything’s different every year, man,” Campbell said. “Even if you have the core, which you believe in, that’s why we got ‘em, it’s always a new team. And you gotta find your own way.”

They lost their way this season for various reasons. To find their way back, they can’t do it the exact same way.

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