Another Sunday, another comeback for the Detroit Lions led by Matthew Stafford.

The Lions quarterback engineered a last-minute drive to beat Washington at Ford Field, 20-17, and improve Detroit's record to 4-3.

Here are some of the key ways Stafford was clutch against Washington, told through the photographs of MLive's Mike Mulholland.

Hey, it helps to have a little luck when you want to have a big day. Stafford got it early in the game. A pass bounced off a Washington defender to Golden Tate, who finished up a 16-yard gain to get the Lions inside the Washington 35. Detroit wound up missing a field goal on this drive, but maybe it was a sign of good fortune to come.

In the second quarter, Stafford hit Golden Tate with what was more a less a screen pass. It gained 27 yards to give Detroit the ball at the Washington 33. This drive led to a 43-yard Matt Prater field goal, giving Detroit a 3-0 lead.

Tate wound up with more than 90 receiving yards Sunday. You can check out his highlights in the video with this slide.

In the third quarter, Stafford scrambled up the middle for 18 yards to the Detroit 34-yard line. It was an early key play in what would become an important drive.

After Stafford showed his wheels, he connected on the longest pass of the day. He connected with Marvin Jones for 52 yards to the Washington 14. This drive ended in a Zach Zenner touchdown run, putting Detroit ahead 10-3.

Stafford went five of seven and recovered his own fumble in a key drive bridging the third and fourth quarters. The drive used 5 minutes, 12 seconds and ended with a Matt Prater field goal giving Detroit a 13-3 lead.

Things were looking pretty good. For a while. Then Kirk Cousins and Washington rattled off two straight four-quarter touchdowns to leave Detroit suddenly behind, 17-13.

But Stafford has a history of making comebacks. And the confidence he inspires in coaches and teammates is one of the ways he came up clutch Sunday. "He does not back down from tough situations," coach Jim Caldwell said. "He rises to the occasion time and time again."

So the Lions found themselves needing a touchdown. Their drive started at their own 25-yard line, with 1:05 left. They had all three timeouts, which would come in handy.

Stafford completed the first pass of the drive to Marvin Jones for 23 yards over the middle. That moved Detroit to its own 48.

On the very next play, Stafford scrambled up the middle for 14 yards to the Washington 38. Detroit took a timeout with 38 seconds remaining. (Stafford would finish this game with two big carries for 32 important yards).

Coming out of the time out, Stafford connected with Andre Roberts for 20 yards to the Washington 18.

After another timeout and two incomplete passes, Stafford was ready for the biggest play of all. 

On third down, with just 22 seconds left, Stafford found Anquan Boldin over the middle near the 5. Boldin ran it the rest of the way in, completing Detroit’s clutch comeback. The winning drive took just 49 seconds.

The video in this slide has another look at the Stafford-to-Boldin game winner. And here are some links to other Lions coverage:

Instant analysis: From Meinke and Mayo

Darius Slay: A hamstring injury

Kirk Cousins: A bittersweet homecoming