The Brisbane Lions' hopes of earning the AFL double chance nosedived after Essendon produced some brilliant bursts and won by 37 points at Telstra Dome.

The Bombers delivered a blistering, eight-goal opening quarter, held their nerve to see off Lions fightbacks in the next two quarters and posted a handsome 24.11 (155) to 18.10 (118) win.

Scott Lucas kicked five goals and captain Matthew Lloyd four while Brent Stanton capped an excellent game in the midfield with a third goal, after the full-time siren when the Dons had posted a fourth successive win.

The Lions' second successive defeat to a side outside the eight, following the one-point loss to bottom side Melbourne in round 14, now has them seventh, level on points with eighth-placed St Kilda.

From eyeing off a position in the top four after round 13, Leigh Matthews' side might have to be content with playing an elimination final away from home, although they have lowly West Coast and Richmond to come in the next two rounds.

Apart from sporadic bursts, they could not match Essendon's possession count, spark and slick ball movement.

The Dons' impressive first term was based on a willingness to attack with creative handball, break tackles and pinpoint passing, which benefitted the multi-pronged forward line.

Caught flat-footed, the Lions worked hard to get back into the match, as Travis Johnstone became dangerous when in possession and Jonathan Brown (five goals) and Daniel Bradshaw (four) offered strong targets.

The visitors' best passage of the game, at the start of the third quarter, resulted in their taking the lead, when Michael Rischitelli's quick kick evaded the six players in front of him and rolled through for a goal.

But Brisbane's lead was short-lived, as Jetta slammed through a goal after grabbing the ball off the pack and then Lloyd rolled through a gem from the right pocket 90 seconds later.

Earlier, Essendon also quashed a Lions comeback late in the first half, when Lucas's snap, after his initial kick was smothered, was the Dons' third goal in three minutes.

Essendon's improvement in the second half of the season was reflected in the way young midfielders Brent Stanton, Kyle Reimers and Jay Nash used the ball with confidence, while ruck David Hille again impressed, especially with two big bumps which set up a goal in the first quarter.

Johnstone could not match Essendon's dominance in the midfield single-handedly, as Simon Black and Luke Power were not as prolific as usual.

But Anthony Corrie and Jared Brennan played two of their better games, the latter booting three goals in the final quarter to finish the game with four.

Matthews said the Lions could still finish in the top four, but was more focused on getting a win.

"It's not out of range, but it's not realistically (close, because) we've lost a couple of games to teams that probably aren't going to play in the final eight, so I don't know why everyone should be too focused on the top four," he said.

"You've got to try to win some games and if you win enough games you'll play top four.

"But it's not really the issue. The issue is to get a bit more out of more of our players next week."

In a further concern for the Lions, Brown was struggling towards the end after copping a heavy bump to his hip in the second quarter, while Black was nursing a sore shoulder after he was crunched by Hille.

Matthews said the Lions struggled defensively, but paid credit to Essendon for their efficiency in attack.

"It turned out to be a game that whoever was getting the ball was scoring," he said.

"They (Essendon) were fantastic, they kicked 24.6 off the boot - they had five rushed behinds out of their 11 behinds.

"Every time they went forward they were having a shot and most times they were kicking goals and when we had a bit of control of the footy we did the same thing, so it was a bit of an exhibition game."

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