DETROIT -- Matthew Stafford jumped high in the air, his arms raised. Then he ran off the field, pumping his fist hard as he headed toward the sideline.

He had done it again, pulled the Detroit Lions from the depths of a likely defeat. This has been the way Stafford has played all season, the way Stafford’s career has been described, but it has never been quite like this.

Stafford had already shown vast improvement this season and lifted himself into the discussion as one of the top quarterbacks in the league. But on Sunday, he did something else in the Lions' come-from-behind 20-17 win over Washington: He made himself into a legitimate MVP candidate.

"One-hundred percent, 100 percent," Lions backup quarterback Dan Orlovsky said. "If he's not in the MVP conversation, then who is? You know, who is. One-hundred percent."

The Lions would be close to nowhere without Stafford, who has led them from behind in all four of Detroit’s victories this season. While the first three ended with a winning field goal from Matt Prater, this one had a higher degree of difficulty.

Stafford needed a touchdown to win. No problem. He drove Detroit 75 yards down the field in six plays for the winning score, using 49 of the 65 seconds left on the clock. He pulled it off with his arm, finding Marvin Jones, Andre Roberts and Anquan Boldin for big gains. He used his feet, scrambling for 14 yards and lowering his shoulder to try to pick up one or two more.

He finished Sunday having completed 18 of 29 passes for 266 yards and a touchdown, and he ran twice for 32 yards. He completed passes to six different receivers, targeting seven. He spread the ball around, continually searching for the open man and buying time with his feet whenever the option wasn’t immediately there.

This was the Stafford the Lions have seen all year long, the guy who has never stopped believing his team can win. He's the player who has no problem essentially pulling his offense along with him for the ride, getting everybody involved and coming up with clutch plays time and again.

"He's playing really good football for us," Orlovsky said. "Really good football. Not ordinary football. It's don't-take-it-for-granted type stuff."

The end of the game often has been when Stafford is at his best, but Sunday's performance proved to have a different level to it. It was Stafford’s 100th game as an NFL quarterback and his 24th game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime.

So for nearly a quarter of the games he has played in -- and he hasn’t always been on winning teams -- he had to do something in the final quarter to pick up the victory.

The attention on him, though, has become greater now. He has been a consistent presence for the Lions. Gone are many of the mistakes he has made in the past. In its place is an efficient quarterback making good decisions over and over again

And this is turning Stafford into one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. His continued late-game poised play has proven that.

"I expect to win every time I get the ball," Stafford said. "It's not always going to happen that way. You know, Tennessee, we had a chance and I didn't make a play to win. But I expect to go out there and win. I believe in the guys that I've got in the huddle with me.

"I think they believe in me, and this is NFL football, this happens. Just glad we made the plays."