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ALLEN PARK — Zach Zenner has scored five rushing touchdowns in the last 17 games — none of his teammates are even close to that mark.

Yet, the Lions running back was inactive in Sunday’s 20-15 loss to the Steelers when the Lions were 0-for-5 in the red zone.

Zenner has only been active in four of the seven games this season and yet, at the moment, he appears to be the Lions best chance at a rushing touchdown inside the 10-yard line.

It’s a head-scratcher.

In that 17-game stretch the only other running back to score a rushing touchdown was Ameer Abdullah on Oct. 8 when he ran in from 3 yards out at the Vikings. The only other Lions to score rushing touchdowns in the last 17 games are tight end Eric Ebron on a 1-yard run and Matthew Stafford who ran in from 7 yards out. Both were in 2016.

Dwayne Washington, Sunday’s featured power back, has only scored one touchdown — a 1-yard run —  and that was in his first game as a rookie on Sept. 11, 2016.

Zenner was huge at the end of last season with four rushing touchdowns in the last 10 games and three in the last two games. He had a good camp and preseason, yet was inactive the first two games so he hasn’t had much chance to pick up where he left off.

Here is a look at Zenner’s scores:

Oct. 23, 2016 — 1-yard touchdown run vs Redskins

Dec, 26, 2016 — Two touchdowns including a 7-yard run and a 1-yard run

Jan. 1, 2017 — 1-yard touchdown run.

Oct. 8, 2017 — 1-yard touchdown run against the Panthers

Zenner also excels at pass blocking and in 2016 had 18 catches for 196 yards. He doesn’t have one reception in the four games he played this season.

He has good hands, losing only one fumble in 2016.

Look, the Lions certainly have these stats. They do their homework. So maybe there’s a reason that’s not so obvious that has kept Zenner on the bench. In his four games this season he has 10 runs for 16 yards — one of those was for 14 yards.

Just seems Zenner could provide an option in the red zone.

ALLEN PARK —  Jim Caldwell won’t address rumors about the possibility of trading tight end Eric Ebron. The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday.

“I do my very best not to comment on any rumors or innuendo,’’ Caldwell said on Monday.

Ebron was targeted six times and caught two passes for 58 yards in Sunday night’s 20-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The tight end had a 44-yard pass play late in the fourth quarter, getting the Lions to the Steelers’ 11-yard line. But they couldn’t punch it in. The Lions didn’t score a touchdown in the game.

“He’s a guy who can make plays for us, I think you saw the catch and run he made,’’ Caldwell said. “He’s got ability, we’ve got to get the best out of him.’’

Ebron was booed loudly when he didn’t make the catches, even though a few of them weren’t necessarily on him.

(Photo courtesy of Detroit Lions)

He missed a deep pass down the middle on a third-and-6 in the first quarter.

“In my mind I should’ve dove for it, it was a great ball. I just couldn’t catch up to it, I blame that on me,’’ Ebron said.

He heard the boos.

“There’s nothing I can do about it, like I said they don’t know my story,’’ Ebron said on Sunday night. “I want to always be positive, you can boo me all you want. I don’t think it’s the first time I’ve been booed.’’

He said 99.9 percent of the fans could not come out and make those catches.

“Yes, those were tough grabs, I get paid to make those grabs yes, but too damn tough. Cut a brother some slack, it’s rough. Whenever I get the opportunity and I can make a play I’m going to try to make the play and do what I can with the football in my hands.’’

Ebron has heard the trade rumors but does not seem upset by him.

“I mean it is what it is, they’ve got until Tuesday. This is a business if they want to cut ties with me, then they cut ties. Then if they can continue to use me my skills and abilities, it’s a long season,’’ Ebron said.

Well, not as long as it used to be.

Nine games remaining starting at Green Bay on Monday night.

DETROIT — The Lions’ offense gained plenty of yards on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense which was second-rated in the NFL.

It didn’t matter.

Matthew Stafford and the Lions’ offense accumulated 482 yards (411 passing) in the 20-15 loss to the Steelers on Sunday night at Ford Field.

Those gaudy offensive numbers were useless because the Lions could not score a touchdown. The 15 points were courtesy of Matt Prater’s five field goals.

According to Pro Football Reference, the Lions’ offensive effort of 482 yards ranks third all-time in NFL for most yards without a touchdown in a game. No. 1 was San Francisco with 501 yards versus Washington in 1986 and second was Cincinnati with 496 yards versus Seattle in 1994.

Yikes. Not exactly a record you want to break.

“Couldn’t execute (in the red zone). We were close on a lot of plays whether I missed a throw or we didn’t catch a ball or whatever it is. It’s obviously frustrating to get down there and not come away with points twice,’’ Stafford said.

The Lions have lost three straight and now hold a 3-4 record. It was their third straight home loss.

Five reasons the Lions lost:

1. They were 0-for-5 in the red zone. Three times they settled for field goals but twice they got nothing. Zip, zilch, nada.

In the third quarter they got to the Steelers’ 4-yard line after a 23-yard catch by TJ Jones. On first-and-goal, Dwayne Washington got stopped less than a yard from the goal line. Then an incomplete pass to Marvin Jones was followed by a Washington run for no gain.

They went for it on fourth-and-1. “We had a pass play called, they dropped a lot of guys into coverage, thought I had a stop to step up and make a play and their guys did a good job rallying and tackling me,’’ said Stafford who was sacked for a one-yard loss.

Then in the fourth quarter, when they were losing 20-15, Stafford checked into a draw play for Theo Riddick on third-and-5 from the Steelers’ 6. He was stuffed, losing two yards. Stafford made the decision because the Steelers had dropped eight in coverage.
“We just didn’t execute it well and that’s on me to get everybody on the same page,’’ Stafford said.

On the next play they went for it on fourth-and-7. Stafford’s attempted pass to Eric Ebron was broken up by Ryan Shazier. That was basically the ball game with 1:54 left.

2. The run game struggled again, combining for 71 yards. Ameer Abdullah had 27, Theo Riddick has 21 and Dwayne Washington 12 yards on six carries.

Coach Jim Caldwell was defensive when asked why Washington, who had missed the last four games due to injury, is the power back. He’s their best option but was not good in the red zone. No one was.

“It’s annoying because, I mean, we’ve got a good kicker, but we’ve got a good offense too. We’ve got to score,’’ Abdullah said. “We’ve got guys that can score. We’ve got guys who, if we put them in the right position, they can make big plays for us down there. We’ve just got to find a way to do that.”

3. Detroit was 2 of 12 (17 percent) on third downs. In comparison, the Steelers were 7 of 14 (50 percent). Enough said.

4. Mistakes, miscues, you name it. You can’t pin this all on tight end Eric Ebron but he was targeted six times and caught just two — one was for 44 yards. Still he has to be more consistent. He knows that, everyone at Ford Field knew that.

Even the sure-handed Golden Tate caught a pass and then the ball slipped out of his arms and was recovered by the Steelers. “That was a great play by everybody but me. It got away from me, I don’t know what it was, if I was thinking about my next move. I have to hold onto the play. This team looks to me to make plays,’’ Tate said.

5. This loss can’t be pinned on the defense but they can take their share of the blame. They had a lousy start on the Steelers’ opening play on their first drive, a 41-yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger to JuJu Smith-Schuster.. And then there was the 97-yard pass play from Roethlisberger to Smith-Schuster in the third quarter that put the Steelers up 20-12.

“I don’t know, (Smith-Schuster) just made some catches. He got put in some good situations and he just made some plays for them,’’ safety Glover Quin said. “We go into a game, you know, if they’ve got a top receiver like that (Antonio Brown), you want to force the next guy to do that. He did.”

Quin intercepted Roethlisberger and also recovered a fumble.

Running back Le’Veon Bell was held to 76 rushing yards after rushing for more than 300 yards in the past two games combined.