Week Seventeen

Bears @ LIONS

The most disappointing of season's comes to an end today with the visit of divisional foe the Chicago Bears. Pre-season this particular fixture was seen as at worst a likely decider for a playoff position, and for the Bears it may still be, rather than the opportunity to salvage a little pride at the expense of a higher draft pick. The game also has the added bonus of affording the opportunity to Calvin Johnson to gain an unprecedented 2,000 receiving yards for the season. It is unfortunate that such a magnificent individual achievement should be entwined with such a woeful team performance but in many ways the poor form of this years Lions team actually enhances Johnson's achievement. As the season comes to a close there has been much speculation as to the reasons for the failure to meet pre-season expectations. Blame has been cast in the direction of ill-disciplined players as well as to the man that drafted them and the coaches that coached them. Without having knowledge of what has happened within the confines of Allen Park we can only speculate on what has gone wrong with the team and why it has happened. It's also difficult to say that Schwartz's refusal to point fingers or aportion blame other than to say we failed to make key plays is anything more than his attempt to keep his real thoughts within the team. As outsiders we can but look at what we see the team do on the field and now we must wait to see if moves those performances suggest should be made will be during what will be a longer off-season than last year.

Week Sixteen

Falcons @ LIONS

I'm sure I wasn't alone in being amazed at how the Lions capitulated in Arizona last week and I would think that abject display has left very few believing this game will be anything other than a Falcons win. It's perhaps worth remembering back to this game last season which was played while many of us were meeting up at Wembley for the International Series game. It was the second loss of the season but like the previous weeks defeat to the 49ers the game was close and could well have gone the Lions way. Sound familiar? Look back on those two defeats now and the warning signs of this season's collapse are glaring. Ill discipline and the inability to make the key plays whether to extend an offensive drive or to stop an opposition in their tracks. The games were close enough to suggest that all three teams were stocked with similar talent and yet this season the Falcons and 49ers look to be contesting the top two seeds in the NFC while the Lions head towards a possible top five pick in the Draft. If we accept that there is little between the teams in terms of playing talent then we must accept that the difference between them now is players attitude and coaching. If these Lions are serious about competing at the highest level then it is games like this that they must be able to perform in. It is also true to say the coaches must be able to cope with the pressures of such games too which is something they have yet to show themselves capable of.

Week Fifteen

LIONS @ Cardinals

This is a meeting of two teams heading in the same direction, unfortunately that direction is downwards and the speed of their descent is in danger of becoming terminal. The Lions need to find some sort of positive momentum from these last three games to take into the off-season if for no other reason than to feed the coaching staff's seeming belief that there has been little wrong with the team or their game plans this season. The Cardinals fall has probably already become terminal and it will be a big knock on the Lions if the Cards are able to arrest their run of defeats with victory over them. A few years ago there was good cause to almost hope the Lions would continue to lose so our Draft position improved but now there is a danger that high first round draft picks will be replacing former high first round draft picks that we can no longer afford to keep. The modern free agent salary capped NFL tends to negate many of the advantages that the Draft was intended to produce. Before the Thanksgiving game I likened the Lions situation to that of the Texans from recent years and the Cardinals also represent a potential model of what we may expect over the next couple of seasons. The Cards ensured they retained the service so of Larry Fitzgerald, just as the Lions have done with Calvin, but perhaps crucially they have not been able to replace the QB skills of Kurt Warner so maybe we can allow ourselves hope that the Cards path is one we won't be travelling. The danger is there though and the Cardinals are a good representation that sustained success is not guaranteed no matter how good an individual season may be.

Week Fourteen

LIONS @ Packers

Can the Lions set a new futility record this week by losing a lead in the last 2 minutes of a game for the fourth successive week? If the game is reasonably close going into the last few minutes then it would probably be a safe bet to say the Lions are likely to find a way to lose it. Whether that be by failing to prevent the Packers from scoring or by failing to mount an offensive drive to score themselves. The inability to win games they could or should have won has been what has distinguished this season and we can but hope for signs that this has not become a trait. With snow forecast for the game then it has to be hoped that the offensive game plan drawn up by Scott Linehan does not rely heavily on plays that are not conducive to such conditions. With the playoffs no longer something to aim for this season we have to look towards next season and establishing ourselves within our division with wins at Green Bay and home to Chicago would be a good step in this direction. Likewise with contracts expiring and roster spots for many not guaranteed there are plenty of reasons for the players and the coaches, for that matter, to keep themselves motivated.

Week Thirteen

Colts @ LIONS

The chances have been there throughout this season to win games that we've ended up losing. The reasons have been various and generally game changing events or chances could be attributed to individual player errors. In post-game press conferences Coach Schwartz would point to these 'individual errors' and justifiably point out that but for these we may well have won, not lost, said game therefore faith must be maintained by staff and fans alike in the game plan/scheme/call it what you will. 'Successful teams have faith in what they do and maintain that faith in times of adversity' was the message to all those that were raising concerns about the Lions performances this season. The teams was slow out of the blocks, the team seemed incapable of maintaining an offensive drive until the 4th quarter, Special Teams looked like an accident waiting to happen etc The coaching staff were absolved of blame and even those of us that were raising concerns restricted the criticism to the Co-Ordinators. But now as we head into the final five games of the season, all of which need to be won if we are to finish with a winning season, the spotlight, in my opinion, should be shone very brightly on Coach Schwartz.