Not since Barry Sanders was in his pomp has there been a bigger game involving the Lions. How quickly the M***** years and the decade of losing have been washed away by Mayhew and Schwartz to find ourselves with such a game. In some respects it has felt like we are already in the playoffs the last couple of weeks such has been the importance of winning but now Christmas is on hold as we reach the stage of win and we're in. There is every chance the Lions already have enough wins in the bag to make post-season play but having got this close they really need to be make it by smashing their way through the front door rather than sneaking in through the back. Sadly for us over here Sky have chosen the Cowboys/Eagles matchup as their game of choice so the action for us is via our PC's which, especially for those of us that used to fine tune their radio's in the hope of listening to a Lions game on AFN, is as good as being in Ford Field itself. With a winning season now assured every win will be regarded as a bonus as it will continue this magical season while a defeat, save perhaps one, brings the journey to an end. So with that said let's embrace the fact that today's game is against the smoking hot San Diego Chargers, masters of the late season flourish and many experts pre-season tip as the AFC's Super Bowl representative.
The Raiders and their fans have probably spent the last week wondering how the heck they lost that game last week. When Matthew Stafford fumbled and Aaron Curry (remember him?) gathered the ball and rumbled into the end zone the Silver & Black could have been forgiven if they'd started handing out the victory cigars. Fortunately for Lions fans Matthew Stafford chose this moment to come of age. Suddenly Calvin Johnson was catching everything and Brandon Pettigrew was seemingly dropping everything else as Stafford marched the Lions up the field twice to snatch the most amazing of victories. The Chargers have a similarly vulnerable secondary to the Raiders so the Lions will be looking for a repeat of the Stafford to Johnson show this week. It will be quite a surprise though if the Chargers entire defensive game plan isn't centred around stopping Megatron from catching the ball. The Raiders game showed that even when he's covered it is still worth throwing the ball Johnson's way but to make life a little easier for him it would help if the other offensive weapons bring their A games. Nate Burleson needs to catch a higher percentage of the passes thrown his way, Brandon Pettigrew needs to make the crucial catch that he so often seems to not make and Titus Young needs to continue to show he is a legitimate threat. It also has to be hoped that the injury Kevin Smith has healed sufficiently enough to allow him to showcase him in his best light as a credible running game would really help the passing game dominate.
As had been anticipated the Raiders game saw its fair share of flags thrown however, the Lions coaching staff and fans would have been pleased that the penalties were football penalties and not stupid ones. Cliff Avril and Stephen Tulloch would probably disagree as they picked up fines this week for their horse collar tackles but that is life in the modern NFL. Philip Rivers has struggled for most of this season with speculation that he has been carrying an injury but in recent weeks he has been more like his old self and the Lions cannot afford to let him have the time to pick apart our secondary. Something he is more than capable of doing. The Chargers also have something that the Lions don't have offensively namely a potentially dominating running game with Ryan Matthews. The ground threat will prevent the Lions from zeroing in on Rivers but the front four should be good enough to keep him under pressure. A feature of Rivers recent return to form has been the absence of interceptions from his stats line and if the Lions are to win this game it has to be hoped that a pressurised Rivers offers up passes for the likes of Alphonso Smith to pick off.
The performance of the Special Teams unit has picked up over the last couple of games and it's been nice to see some tackling that brought back recent memories of a certain 'Pain Train'. Stefan Logan has even taken it upon himself to actually run the ball back a couple of times while Aussie punter Ben Graham continues to impress and make a case for a permanent position on the team. In what could well be a very close game it is entirely possible that this game comes down to the boot of Jason Hanson or, as last week, the out stretched hand of Ndamukong Suh.
Whilst it might give us more hope of a win if the Chargers were already done for the season I am quite glad that they aren't and come into this game fighting for their playoff lives. The Lions need experience in these type of games where the importance of winning is almost suffocating. This is the type of environment that teams who win things thrive in and so far the Lions are showing great character with their record of comeback wins. Although currently sitting at 7-7 it should be noted that two of the Chargers losses were in OT so they could quite easily be 9-5 like the Lions. Encouragingly though they are 2-4 on the road with their two wins coming over a pre-Tebow Broncos and the slumping Jags so they've yet to win at a team of the Lions calibre. For me this is a really tough one to call and I have a feeling it could well come down to a kick on the last play of the game, just like last week. I do think though that home field could well be the deciding factor in this one so am tentatively putting a foot into the lush waters of the playoffs.
Happy Christmas
Prediction: Chargers 35 LIONS 37
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