Over the next week, we are going to go through the 10 plays that shaped the 2014 season for the Detroit Lions.

The play: Detroit center Dominic Raiola stomped on the ankle of Chicago defensive lineman Ego Ferguson.

The situation: The Lions were assured of a playoff berth and a chance at a NFC North title no matter what happened against the Bears in Week 16, but coming out of a scrum on a play in the third quarter, Raiola appeared to intentionally stomp on the ankle of Ferguson, a Chicago defensive tackle. Raiola said he apologized to Ferguson after the game and that the stomp was unintentional. He also spoke with one of his friends on the Bears, Roberto Garza, to reiterate he did not do it intentionally.

The reason it mattered: In the scheme of Detroit’s game against Chicago, this play didn’t matter at all. Everything after did. Raiola said after the game the play was unintentional. Lions coach Jim Caldwell backed Raiola both after the game and the next day, but the NFL reviewed the play and suspended Raiola for the regular-season finale against Green Bay, which was a de facto divisional title game. This left rookie Travis Swanson making his first start at center and might have sealed Raiola’s fate with the Lions. Swanson handled his debut at center well and the team has already decided not to bring back Raiola for 2015.

What Raiola said about the play: “It was totally unintentional. I remember I was stumbling out. I didn't see the end of it. I apologized at the end of the game, told him it was unintentional and we shook hands and that was it."