Week Eight

Seahawks @ LIONS

Halloween weekend is turning into a bit of a nightmare for Michigan sports fans and the Lions have the opportunity to pull the states sports fans out of the horror weekend with a win over the Seahawks. Those watching the Tigers in the World Series may well have wondered if the Lions offense had been giving the Tigers lineup batting advice as they replicated the impotent offensive Monday night display against the Bears. Amid growing fan unrest Coach Schwartz has reiterated his belief in both his players and his staff so this would be a good place for them all to start repaying his faith. 

Week Seven

LIONS @ Bears

Whilst, unlike last week, I don't think a loss would end the Lions season I do believe a loss would put us in a position that, given everything I've seen of this current Lions team, would suggest they couldn't come back from. So a virtual must win game, if you will, but one in which a strong performance in defeat may just show a spark that turns into something the rest of the way home. A 3-3 record after this game would probably be what most were predicting pre-season and given that the schedule has been skewed to road games a 2-4 record would only be going with home field advantage. Those losses to the Vikes and Titans though have left the Lions with little wiggle room now for the remainder of the season and for the season to amount to something they will need to not only win the games they are expected to win but also a few that they may not be fancied to win. This game falls into the category of not fancied to win. The Bears go into it with an impressive 4-1 record but a quick look behind that impressive stat suggests they have yet to beat anyone of note. It should also be noted that their solitary defeat, to the Packers, highlighted weaknesses that the Lions should be perfectly set up to exploit.

Week Six

LIONS @ Eagles

It's Week Six, Game Five of the Lions season and perhaps no exaggeration to say that this game will define where the Lions season heads from here. Win and they can build their way back into playoff contention. Lose and they can start to think about who may be at the top of next years Draft (just like the old days). A 1-3 start is recoverable but a 1-4 start turns a season into one of damage limitation. Despite my own and the majority of Lions fans, according to various online fan polls, desire for the coaching staff to be shaken up there have been no dramatic changes since the Vikings defeat in either coaching staff or player personnel. It seems that them's the apples that have fallen from the tree so we are just going to have to hope they can correct the ills of the first four weeks. The Tigers late season surge into the playoffs in search of a World Series has taken some of the local media attention away from the Lions struggles. The return from the Bye Week sees this game providing the entree to Game 2 of the ALCS though so the focus will most definitely be on the Lions, and after Jose Valverde had the cities sports fans squirming in their seats with an epic meltdown, more of what they were serving up pre-Bye will not be appreciated.