It's always good to start the season with a win, especially when it's achieved against a divisional rival. The game itself probably encapsulated much of what we can expect from the Lions this season and that is why my biggest issue with the seasons opener is with Coach Schwartz's comments post game.
Schwartz's refusal to apologise for the indiscipline of his team because they'd won says much about why discipline is even an issue with them. There can be no argument that three is talent littered throughout the Lions, both on and off the field, but if that talent is as good as it believes itself to be is another matter. It's a fine line between self confidence and arrogance and for Coach Schwartz he appears to have been drifting from the former to the latter throughout his tenure in Motown.
When looked back upon now the 2011 Lions look like a prime example of a flat track bully (the same charge levelled against last years Bears). Also when looking back at that 2011 season the conflict between Schwartz and Harbaugh highlights a key flaw in Schwartz and his team. Schwartz had been desperate to change the attitude of the rest of the league towards the Lions, they were not going to be shoved around by anyone and if anyone was going to do some shoving it was the Lions. In trying to present a confident outlook both Coach and team stepped into arrogance and in the 49ers they had found the perfect opponent to both expose and exploit that arrogance. If reports are to be believed Schwartz had foolishly advised Harbaugh during an off-season meeting that the rookie coach would struggle to get his team set as there had been a lockout for most of the off-season. Harbaugh was coming from a very successful spell as Head Coach at Stanford University and, one suspects, didn't take too kindly to being spoken down to. The Lions had started the season strongly and went into the game full of confidence. Now it is possible that the Lions didn't under estimate the 49ers or over estimate their own abilities but when I look back on that game now and at what has transpired since I think that is exactly what happened.
For me the win over the Vikings confirmed all that is so frustrating about the Lions. When it clicks, whether that be on defense or offense, the team looks unbeatable. The trouble is for too much of a game the team doesn't click it clunks. The Vikings remained in a game they never really should have had a sniff at but, thanks to the Lions, for most of it they looked like they could escape Ford Field with the W. Stupid penalties are not the result of welcome enthusiasm or aggression they are the result of indiscipline and a lack of discipline is a weakness that you don't see on truly good teams. Suh's block was unnecessary so why worry about the whole if it had occurred on the other side of the ball it would have been legal argument? Dumb penalties that cost the team time after time, game after game and season after season are on the Head Coach. Rather than refuse to apologise for indiscipline from his players as they won the game a real winner would be criticising that indiscipline for making what should have been an easy blow out win a close win.
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