Detroit Lions Weblog

Well, I Guess Things Are Much Clearer Now…

The Lions are amazing.  Has any team ever so completely blown playoff contention this rapidly in the history of the NFL?  Not only only are they amidst an awful three game losing streak, after a promising 6-2 start, but four of their five losses are against teams who are mired deeply in the NFC wild card race with them, giving each of these teams a tie-breaker advantage by virtue of their victories over the Lions, whose playoff insignificance is growing by-the-minute.

Let’s assess the Lions, at least where they stand at this point at 6-5, because as we all know, it’s quite likely to get MUCH worse from here.  Jon Kitna, is as tough as nails, and a strong leader, but he is clearly just an average NFL QB.   The Lions are in serious trouble without him, but he is not much of a difference-maker for them, either.  

The Lions offensive line can’t provide Kitna with the protection necessary for him to even to be able to play at his natural level of ability, since he is under near constant duress.  Kitna, who had an awful game today, and his highly-touted receivers, who were either invisible(Roy Williams), or plagued by rookie errors(Calvin Johnson), admittedly constitute one of the most overrated offensive personnel groups in recent NFL history.

The Lions have a “franchise” left tackle(Jeff Backus) who may not miss any starts, but is well on pace for allowing 20 sacks this season.   The Lions “franchise” DT(Cory Redding), the highest paid player at his position in the league, and a team captain, has not produced a single sack for the Lions defense this season.

The consensus top player in the 2007 draft(Johnson), who was selected second overall, rarely sees the field throughout most of the season, and subsequently gets thrust into being the team’s primary receiving option during, at least up to this point, it’s biggest game of the season. Worst of all, he flubs his opportunity when everyone has been demanding he assume a more integral role in the offense for weeks.

As much as the Dre Bly for George Foster and Tatum Bell trade stinks and has hurt the Lions this year, Mr. 30-77 may have really outdone himself with the 2007 draft.  He drafted a wide receiver, when it was abundantly clear that the team had larger needs on the offensive line(Joe Thomas) and throughout their entire defense(DE, LB, CB).

He selected a QB in Drew Stanton in the second round, who was clearly a project, and likely could have been selected much later, rather than trading up to get OT Tony Ugoh, who has done a fine job replacing Tarik Glenn for the Colts. Another second-rounder, Ikaika Alama-Francis hasn’t played at all during the entire regular season.  A fourth-rounder, A.J. Davis, was eventually released, meanwhile the Bucs took S Tanard Jackson, selected one pick after Davis, who is a contender for defensive rookie of the year.

I digress, unfortunately I think that this team’s luck may have run out in 2007.    In my eyes, Dallas and Green Bay(at Lambeau) are clear losses.  In the remaining three games, San Diego and Minnesota are each on the road, and Kansas City is at home, the Lions might be able to win each of them, but if they play at the same level as they have in recent games, they will be lucky to win even one.

Rod Marinelli’s plan for this team is starting to reveal some of it’s first structural weakness, and it is critical that he find a way to reinforce some of the things that lead to this team becoming 6-2, or he may eventually lose them completely.    The Lions losing culture may provide the soft fall necessary for this flagging team.  As much as Marinelli has tried to root it out, it remains the elephant in the room.

Worst of all, we had to endure 45 relentless minutes of pure Brett Favre idol worship from the Fox broadcast booth, especially when the game was clearly unraveling for the Lions.   The last 15 minutes would have been pure hell, had the Packers not dropped into soft zone coverage and allowed the Lions, at least figuratively, back into the game.   In the end, the Packers were just toying with the sad-sack Lions and Brett Favre got to take home the coveted Fox “Galloping Gobbler”. Meanwhile, the Lions remained the biggest Thanksgiving turkeys of them all.