Focussing on the spat between the coaches of these teams does, I believe, do the matchup a disservice. The hand shake at the end of last years game overshadowed what was, essentially, an upset win by the dogged 9ers over the flashy young Lions. It could be argued that it was the game that gave the 9ers team the belief that took them all the way to the NFC Championship game while it exposed a character flaw within the Lions that would be exploited again by others as the Lions eventually fell short of that early season promise. This season's meeting comes a little earlier than last years but is now a contest between two up and coming playoff teams which rightly has the prominence of national TV as it features as the NBC Sunday Night Football game. For those of us on this side of the pond that means free to air TV courtesy of Channel 4 and the game finishing just as the world around us is beginning to awake at the start of a new working week. The game should be gripping enough to ensure that fighting off the desire to sleep is not as difficult as it could otherwise be.
The Week One performances of the two teams rightly will see the 9ers start the game as favourites. It was an impressive dismantling of the Packers last week and, in truth, was only made to look close by some pretty poor officiating from the replacements. If you choose to look beyond the Stafford interceptions then it was a dominating performance from the Lions in beating the Rams. The interceptions did occur though and in the end the Lions squeezed out a win over an impressive Rams team already showing the benefits of Jeff Fishers coaching. The 49ers have a defense that is massively better than the Rams and Matthew Stafford cannot afford to be as loose with his passes this week. The Lions O-Line will need to both protect Stafford and create holes for Smith to run through as Linehan will surely need a balanced attack in order to prevent the 9ers D from pinning their ears back and aiming for Staff. Smith could be the surprise in this game and I suspect he will need to rush for over 100 yards if the Lions are to come away with the victory. The offense will also need to remain disciplined and all eyes will be on wide receiver Titus Young in this regard. He will need to present a viable receiving option and won't be able to do this if he allows his immature petulance to reign free against an opponent that will be doing it all it can to exploit this mental weakness. This is a great test for the 2012 Lions offense against the leagues best defense, that has grown in confidence since they last met, and affords the opportunity to gauge how good this years Lions can be.
It's perhaps a bigger test for the Lions defense though as last years game saw the 9ers D emerge as the more dominant and, more importantly, disciplined. The signs were encouraging on the defensive side of the ball last week against the Rams but they will need to step up this week. This years Secondary may well prove to be better than last years by the seasons end but for now with Delmas, Houston and Bentley all likely to miss this game it looks very vulnerable, made up as it is of guys that have much to prove in this demanding league. It is going to be imperative for the Lions that the D-Line exert pressure on Alex Smith, a much more confident QB these days, if they want to protect the Secondary from being torched. Similarly the D-Line, together with the LB's, will need a repeat of last weeks performance in limiting Steven Jackson otherwise Frank Gore will dominate.
The reason the 9ers are many experts pick to go one step further this year and make it to the Super Bowl is that they are a complete team. The 9ers Special Teams Unit complete a stellar bunch and are capable of keeping the scoreboard ticking over via the boot of David Akers, pinning opponents deep in their own half and taking it to the house when receiving kicks. The Lions have the ever reliable Jason Hanson and Punter Ben Graham looks the best we've seen in a while. The coverage unit looked better against the Rams but that may not be the best of gauge's. Logan retains the return duties but has yet to display the form of his first season in Detroit.
My hope is that the Lions step up to the challenge that is this game and we see a performance similar in its dominance as the one they came up with against the Pats last pre-season. I'm also hoping that the 9ers have a little less respect for this years Lions, and under estimate them accordingly, as this could prove to be a massive mistake on their part. My fear though is that the 9ers are the more rounded team and at some point they will find a way of exploiting the Lions weaknesses, the lack of a run game and a vulnerable Secondary. The expectations going into the game are very much reversed over last year and it will be up to the Lions to step up to the challenge and finally beat a true contender, thus becoming true contender themselves.
Prediction: LIONS 17 49ers 26
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