NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Matthew Stafford’s accuracy and poise sparked the Detroit Lions to a big lead and helped prevent them from squandering it, too.

Stafford passed for 254 yards and three touchdowns, and the Lions held off a late surge by New Orleans to defeat the Saints 35-27 on Monday night.

Detroit (5-9) raced to a 28-3 lead, but Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes — one shortly after a Lions fumble — to help New Orleans (5-9) pull to 28-20 with about 10 minutes left.

Brees passed for 341 yards and three touchdowns, becoming only the fourth quarterback to surpass 60,000 yards in a career while also eclipsing the 4,000-yard mark for the 10th straight season. Brandin Cooks caught 10 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown.

But New Orleans’ loss guaranteed consecutive losing seasons for the first time since Sean Payton became coach in 2006.

Golden Tate caught two touchdown passes for Detroit. The Lions’ last-ranked running game accounted for 150 yards and two TDs against New Orleans’ last-ranked run defense.

Stafford played nearly mistake-free, completing 22 of 25 passes without turning the ball over.

Still, both teams took turns making the kinds of mistakes that losing teams do, producing a close game after it initially looked as if Detroit would run away with it.

The Lions led 28-3 when Ameer Abdullah scored on a 15-yard run around the left end early in the third quarter. New Orleans responded with Brees’ 27-yard touchdown pass to Cooks and closed the gap a little more on Kai Forbath’s short field goal after the Lions made a clutch stop on a third-and-goal from the 4.

But Abdullah fumbled on Detroit’s next play from scrimmage, and the Saints capitalized on Brees’ 11-yard scoring strike to Marques Colston.

Yet, when Detroit looked ripe to self-destruct, the Lions put together a clutch scoring drive that included Abdullah’s 27-yard run and Joique Bell’s short rushing TD.