Brisbane will head into the bye with a focus on inaccuracy in front of goal, with several gettable missed goals costing them an opportunity to overcome Essendon at the Gabba on Sunday.

With the Bombers a man down in the second half after Dyson Heppell left the field with concussion, the Lions had a golden opportunity to overrun them and snare to their second win of the season.

However, Essendon toughed it out to win by 22 points, with the Lions kicking themselves out of contention with 8.14.

Eric Hipwood snapped and missed with other players free inside 50m in the second quarter, while Hugh McCluggage missed when running into an empty goal in the third quarter.

A bad set-shot miss to Daniel McStay in the last quarter robbed the Lions of their momentum.

With the Lions on a streak of three goals at the time and only 14 points down, McStay's behind was punished when Essendon took the ball it the length of the ground for a goal from the resulting kick in.

"We definitely had momentum then, I think the game would have been an eight-point game at that point," Coach Chris Fagan said after the match.

Fagan said they were a chance of overcoming the Bombers at that stage.

"I thought we were a chance, I thought we were a chance all day in that regard," he said.

"Essendon played with a lot of effort and they were a man down in Heppell. I thought that if we could just keep pushing, pushing away and get a run of goals that we might be some chance to get up and win the game.

"But to their credit, they counter-punched pretty well."

Fagan said other missed set shots at key moments were critical.

"I think we kicked 5.10 from set shots … (I) reckon a few of those were regulation, put-them-away shots," Fagan said.

"That hurts."

The Lions coach credited Brisbane's defenders for keeping the Lions in the game for much of the game.

He particularly praised Harris Andrews, who finished with 24 possessions, 12 marks (six contested) and a match-high 13 intercept possessions in a best on ground performance.

"His last six weeks have been extraordinary," Fagan said.

"His spoiling, his intercept marking today, he's been like that for well over a month now.

"He played a sensational game and our whole defence did well, when you consider they had to defend 65 entries and kept them to 24 shots … that's a fine effort. They kept us in the game. "

Fagan said his team would welcome the break, particularly the younger players, as a chance to recharge and reset.

"We've got a very young group – good time for us to have a break and regenerate and reset our goals for the second half of the year," he said.

"We want to continue to try and improve, and obviously that includes winning more games of football. But we're on the right track I feel."