History Repeats Itself: Ravens 19, Lions 17

On December 17, 2013, I looked at Ford Field in awe. It was Monday Night Football, the crowd was absolutely raucous as the Detroit Lions was attempting to clinch its first division championship since 1993. That's one year before I was even born. 2013 was supposed to be the Lions' year. Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler both were dealing with injuries that put them on the sideline for a good chunk of the season, so first place was Detroit's for the taking. All the Lions had to do was win on their home turf against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Lions defense bent but did not break. Baltimore didn't get into the end zone once. The Ravens settled for field goals time and time again. The Lions struggled to get something going on offense themselves, but an 80-yard drive capped with a touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to tight end Joseph Fauria made Ford Field rock as the Lions went up 16-15. Baltimore had a decent return to their own 33, but the Lions only let the Ravens move up 25 more yards. To win the game, the Ravens would have to make a 61-yard field goal to win the game. I stood there in the stadium with my dad as Justin Tucker booted it through the uprights like it was nothing. The Lions lost the game 18-16 after Matthew Stafford threw his third interception of the night on the next drive. The Lions would not win the division. They would not make the playoffs. They would end up firing head coach Jim Schwartz weeks afterwards for the embarrassing meltdown down the stretch.

I stood there in awe as I took it all in. I've cited that game as the most heartbreaking sports event of my young life. It's the kind of experience that completely hardens you from attempting to feel positively about sports, especially when your sports team is the Detroit Lions. There have been a lot of heartbreaking losses for that team, but December 17, 2013 has always stood out.

There were a lot fewer stakes on September 26, 2021. The Lions aren't contending for a wild card spot, much less a division title. They have yet to even win a game this season. The defense has been dreadful, and the offense inconsistent. The Ravens were beat up by injuries, but still have hopes they can make a big run with Lamar Jackson at the helm.

Despite the clear gaps in talent between the two teams, Detroit found themselves in the game. The Lions miraculously found themselves up 17-16. Despite the team not having expectations, Ford Field was louder than it's been in probably four years. Fans just wanted to see this team eke out a win. I stood on my feet in Ford Field once again, only a few rows away from where I stood on December 17, 2013. I wasn't just with my dad this time, but my mom and my sister and her husband and my three nephews. My oldest nephew was losing his mind. The Lions were really going to pull off an upset.

Then the Ravens converted 4th-and-19, spiked the ball, then threw the ball out of bounds for one last shot. Justin Tucker, still one of the greatest kickers in NFL history if not the greatest kicker, would have to do something that had never been done before. He would have to make a field goal from 66 yards deep. This time, it wasn't so clear. Half the Ford Field crowd thought he missed as the ball actually bounced off the crossbar and forward, just barely clearing it. The Ravens stormed the field in celebration. My nephew, feeling the highest of highs just seconds prior, folded into his grandmother's lap asking, "Why? Why can't the Lions ever win?" I once again stood in silence and awe as history repeated itself. This is Lions fandom.

I saw all the tweets and the articles about how this was the best possible thing for the Lions. How they're not going to the playoffs anyway, so losing close games that the team was competitive in but retaining draft position is the best way for things to go down. But when you're in the stadium surrounded by thousands of other people that just want to feel a little bit of football joy losing their minds because the Lions really might pull off the upset this time, it's hard to think like that. And you can't explain that to your 11 year-old nephew. He doesn't care about draft position. He just wants to know why the Lions don't ever win, and why they specifically always lose like this. All you can do is say, "Because we're Lions fans, and that's what life is like for us."

It sucks.

Quick Hits

Carried by... the defense?: For a good chunk of this game, the Lions were surprisingly carried by their defense. They weren't perfect. They needed Marquise Brown to drop several balls to stay in the game, because the secondary still isn't very good. The linebackers played better this week, with Jamie Collins sitting out this game just days before the team would cut him. Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Derrick Barnes performed fine in his stead. The Ravens still had a lot of yardage up the middle on plays where linebackers were the closest defenders, but it wasn't quite the massacre that Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Jones performed on the linebackers in Green Bay last week. Alex Anzalone looked a lot better in run support in particular.

The real defensive improvement came with the defensive line and the outside linebackers. Romeo Okwara had a fantastic performance. I don't believe he stepped off the field for a single defensive snap. The Lions consistently kept the lethal Lamar Jackson contained in the pocket. They got some really clutch sacks. It was nice to see them feast a little bit after a couple weeks they weren't garnering enough pressure.

Just One Coaching Complaint: I've largely heaped praise on Dan Campbell and the Lions coaching staff's aggression on offense, but this is the first time I've really disagreed with the decisions. On the Lions' last drive deep into Ravens territory, the Lions ran the ball three times and then kicked the go-ahead field goal. I would've liked a bit more aggression. I'm fine with the first two runs to force the Ravens to use their timeouts, and the field goal isn't ideal, but it's fine. But I would've preferred that third down call to be a shot down the field either for a first down or a touchdown. I understand that puts you at risk for an interception, or that an incompletion stops the clock and gives the Ravens a little bit more time on their drive, but I think the positives outweighed the negatives. The Ravens had Justin Tucker, so their field goal range, as we saw, is way bigger than most NFL teams. They don't need that much time to get him in game-winning range, so at least one shot at the end zone where the Lions would have to force the Ravens to score a touchdown themselves on the next drive would have made me a lot more comfortable.

Maybe Two Coaching Complaints: For the first half in particular, the Lions were looking undisciplined. The Lions had a few costly penalties on offense when they were already sputtering. There seemed to be communication issues in the secondary at multiple points, including the 4th-and-19 that the Ravens converted. The Ravens also had a touchdown from a blown coverage. I understand that it's a young team, a young coaching staff, and there are multiple players who have been rushed into playing time before they're ready, but you can't have mistakes like that in close games like this. When one team's a huge underdog, they have to play more disciplined in close games, because their huge mistakes will get feasted on. 

Another Weird Day for Goff: I'm not sure Jared Goff is going to play two halves of a football game the same way this season. He looked completely lost in the first half, but was a lot sharper in the second half as the team rallied. I know he's not being helped much by his receivers; only Kalif Raymond really seemed to have a good game for that group with 6 receptions for 68 yards. Still, it's really hard to watch Goff and think that he might be the Lions' answer at quarterback beyond this season or the next. Still plenty of season to disprove that, but early returns aren't promising.

Feed. D'Andre. Swift: The Lions running game wasn't great on Sunday, only averaging 3.4 yards per carry, but D'Andre Swift was the difference maker in the second half against the Ravens. The Lions kept feeding him over and over in the passing game, and the Ravens didn't know what to do. Swift is an absolute killer in space, and when T.J. Hockenson's production is limited like he was in this game, Swift should probably be getting like two out of every three touches. He's playing that well.

Jamaal Williams didn't play as well, but he's been showing why he's been such a great addition this season too. The Lions had 285 yards in this game. 174 of those were from Swift and Williams. They are the absolute heartbeat of this offense. Campbell and Anthony Lynn should just let them cook.

What Can You Even Do, I Mean Really: Packers 35, Lions 17

[Jeff Nguyen/Detroit Lions]

As soon as I saw the Packers struggle against the Saints in week one, I knew this was going to happen.

Every so often, Aaron Rodgers has a stinker. It's fine. Every quarterback has them. But Aaron Rodgers is a three-time NFL MVP, nine-time Pro Bowler, four-time All-Pro, etc. etc. He is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. When he has an uncharacteristic performance, when he's not hitting his receivers right on the money like he almost always does, people want to ask if he's finally washed up.

When those questions get asked, Rodgers' next opponent suffers. He almost always bounces back from those games right away, and he bounces back hard. Monday Night Football was no exception. In the Packers' home opener of the season, he completely picked apart the Lions. There's not much more to say. He proved the haters and the doubters and the losers all wrong. He's still Aaron Freaking Rodgers.

Nobody is surprised by this. The Lions in their current position are the perfect team to bounce back against. It is a lot easier to play at home than it is to play in the Superdome. And even with the offseason drama between Aaron Rodgers and the organization, the idea that Rodgers would be "checked out" was always silly. This is not a man who gets "checked out" of football. He will not get back at the Packers organization for any perceived slights by giving up on the game. He'll do it by playing games like these. Rodgers on the football field is a player fueled by spite, and when the narratives around him get as stupid as they did this last week, that's when he strikes hardest.

I've said so much about Aaron Rodgers, a player I absolutely hate talking about, for several paragraphs. This is because there's hardly anything to say about the Lions in this game. They played very poorly. Rodgers was always going to come out in this game swinging, but the Detroit defense didn't help themselves here. It was an absolutely putrid game for the Lions.

If you put any quarterback in front of that Detroit Lions defense last night and he would thrive. When that quarterback is the most spiteful man in football, it gets ugly quick.

Quick Hits

More Like Alex Anza-done Because He Got Cooked: The Lions defense had a bad day in general, but nobody got picked apart worse than the Lions linebacker corps. With Rodgers and his receivers posing such a threat deep downfield, Detroit had to keep its safeties deep. Green Bay knew this, and picked apart the Lions' weak linebacker group. Tight end Robert Tonyan had 52 yards and a touchdown. Aaron Jones had 115 all-purpose yards with four touchdowns. Linebackers Alex Anzalone and Jamie Collins didn't look like they belonged on the same field as those Packers players. Anzalone always looked a step or two behind when the Packers went his way. I don't think Collins was actually jogging out there on the field, but he sure did look like he was moving through molasses. Derrick Barnes is a rookie fourth-round pick. He's not going to change much, if anything, in the big picture right now. Still, this team desperately needs a spark at the position, and getting him reps doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world right now.

Step On Down, You're The Next Detroit Lions Cornerback: A week after cornerback Jeff Okudah got put on the injured reserve list with an Achilles injury, his replacement Ifeatu Melifonwu got hurt against Green Bay. News from the Lions organization doesn't seem to be positive in regards to a timely return. Melifonwu's replacement in the game Jerry Jacobs was playing an entirely different position mere weeks ago. For all the issues with the Lions have defending the middle of the field right now, they might get picked apart even worse on the outside with Amani Oruwariye and Jerry Jacobs as the primary corners. Oruwariye has had flashes of solid play in his brief career, but he's not a guy you want on the opponent's best receiver. The cornerback depth is looking absolutely abysmal right now, and might only get worse. They need to find somebody that can at least serve as a stopgap at the position on the waiver wire or in free agency.

You're Not Free From Sin Either, Defensive Line: The Lions got a few sacks on Aaron Rodgers, but overall they didn't provide as much push in this game as I wanted to see against an inexperienced Green Bay o-line. But they played the least bad out of any defensive group, so we're going easy on them this week. Do better.

That Offensive Line, Though: The Lions didn't have to worry about the Packers pash rush as much with Za'Darius Smith out, but it's hard not to be thrilled with this unit's play so far in the season. Jared Goff had tons of time to throw the ball. The run game wasn't as effective this week, but for now I'm putting that on D'Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams being a tad underwhelming so far when it comes to getting yards after contact.

Playcalling Still Good & Other Offensive Observations: The Lions drove the ball down the field really well in the first half. I would've liked them to be a little more aggressive in going for a touchdown instead of a field goal at the end of the half, but I understand not wanting to give Aaron Rodgers time to go down the field himself. The second half was obviously worse, but that happens when it's raining at a point in the game you have to pass the ball. Both Jared Goff and his receivers had some trouble holding onto the ball once it started getting slippery.

I saw quite a few people grumbling about going for it on 4th-and-1 in the third quarter, especially when the Lions passed on that play. I didn't have an issue with either decision. With the Lions defense playing like it did, you've got a better shot at staying in the game if you sustain that drive. Goff had a wide-open Amon-Ra St. Brown on a short route, but he opted instead to throw it to a much-better-defended Quintez Cephus. On the ESPN2 Manning Brothers Broadcast, special guest Brett Favre yelled in frustration at Goff missing the checkdown there. Considering that Jared Goff is usually the king of checkdown passes, it was a tinge ironic hearing gunslinger Brett Favre of all people point out that he missed that one.

I think Goff overall did a better job this week than he did last week, despite him having some issues keeping his grip on the ball once the weather hit. Last week had the flashy comeback drives, but Goff looked a lot more poised and comfortable inside and outside of the pocket early in this game. It's still hard to figure out who the primary target in this offense is going to be after wide receiver. This week Quintez Cephus looked like the guy. He made plays early in the game and had some opportunities to make plays late, but it didn't work out. I don't know if he's going to be a consistent threat week-to-week, but it was nice to see him making plays. The rest of the wide receivers... ask again later.

Next Week: Things don't get at all easier as the Lions have to face Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens at home. The Ravens held on to overcome the Chiefs in a very close game. Jackson threw two picks at Tyrann Mathieu that weren't great decisions, but the Lions really don't have a guy on defense who can make Jackson pay for his mistakes quite like Mathieu. The Ravens defense didn't play lights out all game, but they played just enough to keep themselves in it. That's all against the Chiefs of course, who are one of the most talented teams in the NFL. To say that the Lions are not on the same level from a talent perspective as the Chiefs or the Ravens is an understatement. The past two weeks were tough losses against tough opponents where the Lions got punished for any mistakes they made. Against this Ravens squad, they'll have to play nearly perfect football to even make it a close game.

What To Expect When You're Not Expecting: 49ers 41, Lions 33

Photos taken seconds before disaster [Kithmon F. Dozier/Detroit Free Press]

A lot of the analysis that occurs after week one of the NFL season is naturally how a team performed against its preseason expectations. The NFL has a long off-season, with a months-long free agency period and more months between the NFL Draft and even the start of OTAs (organized team activities), much less training camp, the preseason and the season itself.

Over half of the calendar year for the NFL is offseason. Because of that, there's a lot of anticipation, a lot of hypothesizing, a lot of fans trying to decipher coaching changes, roster moves and practice reports to predict how their favorite team will perform when the season does come.

If you're a fanbase like the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, or the defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the expectations are pretty clear because of coaching/talent levels: Super Bowl or bust. For Chicago Bears or New York Jets fans, you're likely not expecting much team success but want to see your shiny new quarterbacks play well (or play at all, if you're a Bears fan). 

But what do expect from a team like the Detroit Lions? The end of the Matt Patricia/Bob Quinn era in Detroit was ugly. The team looked like it had given up before Patricia was given the boot in the middle of the 2020 season. Star quarterback Matthew Stafford, not wanting to endure yet another complete rebuild of the team, demanded a trade and got sent to a playoff contender in Los Angeles. The cupboard of talent left behind by the previous regime was both barren and expensive.

There have been a lot of positive reports about the new Lions regime. Brad Holmes has made some savvy moves as general manager so far, and handled the Stafford situation with professionalism. He cut some bad contracts left behind by Quinn loose, preferring young talent he could develop to some of the struggling veterans who were in Detroit. Dan Campbell, though some of the national media still can't get past the "bite off kneecaps" line in his original presser, has been praised by players. Reports from camp were full of talk about younger players who didn't show much for Patricia starting to make strides, having fun, learning the game of football rather than fearing the wrath of a power-tripping rocket scientist.

That's all fine and good, but what are the actual expectations once this team hit the turf? The team might be improving and learning, but the bar is still low. Matthew Stafford could carry mediocre and outright bad teams to wins because of excellent quarterbacking. The roster still needs at least another offseason before it's remotely competitive. You love to hear that the defensive players are improving in practice, but this is still a defense that was historically bad last season. In reality the only expectations you could really have are low when it comes to actual wins on the field, but hopeful in terms that the team would fight hard, play competitively and maybe even pull an upset or two against a superior team.

I was not expecting the Lions to come out like they did in the first half on Sunday. I expected mistakes, but the team looked disastrous by the end of the half. While I expected poor defense, I didn't expect the San Francisco 49ers to average nearly 10 yards per play. While I expected Goff to struggle, I didn't expect him to completely stall out as many times in 49ers territory as he did.

In the waning moments of the half, the Lions gave up a touchdown, threw a pick-6 on a terrible Goff decision, allowed San Francisco to march down the field for a field goal in about 40 seconds, then had an almost-disastrous botched kick return as the final seconds of the clock ticked down. My expectations for this team were already on the floor, and somehow that half of football lowered them. I was not the only one in the stadium to think this, as boos rained down from the stands (encouraged by a shockingly large number of San Francisco fans in Ford Field).

And then I was not expecting what came after. If any hope remained in Detroit, it went away when cornerback Jeff Okudah failed to make a play on an underthrown ball to Deebo Samuel that became a 79-yard touchdown. The 43-yard screen pass touchdown to D'Andre Swift on the Lions' next drive was fun, but it felt meaningless. The Lions were completely overpowered; the team looked dead in the water. Until they weren't.

After two drives where Detroit had to punt and then turned it over on downs, they were finally able to march down the field, culminating in a Jamaal Williams rushing touchdown. They succeeded on the two-point conversion. It seemed like basic garbage time touchdown with the 49ers playing more prevent defense. Then the Lions recovered the onside kick. They marched down the field again. Goff threw a touchdown to Quintez Cephus, followed by another two-point conversion. Then they forced a fumble on the play the 49ers should have clinched the game on. Detroit went down the field again before eventually succumbing to the San Francisco defense on the 24 yard line.

There are plenty of caveats you can make about this Lions comeback. The 49ers took their feet off the gas in the second half. They weren't going to unload the playbook on a team like Detroit in what was largely an uncompetitive game, and most defenses go into "bend-don't-break" mode when they're leading by four touchdowns. Still, the Lions' determination in playing until the end of the half almost paid off. They made a much better team sweat it out in the end. After lowering expectations as far as they could, they started to look more like the "bad but fun and competitive" way that I thought I was going to see more of in the first half.

I don't think the play of the fourth quarter Lions is going to sustain itself all the time this season. Detroit will make more catastrophic mistakes with the roster it has. But when you see how this team fought, you can hold onto just a little bit of hope as a Lions fan for the first time since Jim Caldwell was coaching.

Quick Hits

Jared Goof: Because of the fourth-quarter heroics, there's a lot of debate in Lions circles on whether or not Jared Goff had a good overall performance. I think that's a little silly. He was largely not good. The missed touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown was inexcusable, as was the pick-6. Goff is extremely reliant on checkdowns to tight ends and running backs. While those tight ends and running backs had good games, you'd still like to see him at least try to move the ball downfield before miracle comeback attempt time. Goff had about as many completions at or behind the line of scrimmage as he did over 10 yards. A lot of fans are seeing the fact that he completed 38 passes on a context-free box score and saying "that's good!" On those 38 completions, Goff only had 338 yards. 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo almost matched that on 21 fewer completions and 32 fewer attempts. Not great. He does have one excuse, though...

Fried Receivers: This has to be the worst wide receiver unit in the league, and it got worse when Tyrell Williams went to the locker room after a head-to-head hit. I understand why the team didn't spend big on any top receiver free agents in year one of a rebuild, but that room is just completely barren. Amon-Ra St. Brown might end up being the top receiver on the team by the end of the season, and he's a fourth-round pick in his rookie season. Quintez Cephus and Kalif Raymond made a few plays down the stretch late in the game, but these receivers with this quarterback just seems like a match made in hell.

But... A Running Game!: Jamaal Williams and D'Andre Swift looked great both rushing and receiving. Though the Lions had to give up on the run early in the game with such a lopsided score, they looked good early in the game. The interior line made some big holes, and rookie tackle Penei Sewell held his own against Joey Bosa. Williams and Swift were also extremely successful in the passing game, despite one bad Swift drop.

Coaching Bits and Bobs: A lot of people who otherwise didn't listen to a single word Dan Campbell said this offseason expected him to be an ultra-conservative, run-first head coach simply because he seems like a meathead and said a thing about biting kneecaps. While this team is going to emphasize the running game when they can, they completely abandoned it when they needed to. Campbell also went for it on fourth down five times. While some of those attempts were late in the game when the Lions needed to go for it if they wanted to come back, two attempts were early in the game where other Lions regimes would have punted or attempted a long field goal. That was nice to see. I thought most of Anthony Lynn's offensive playcalling was solid and creative. Maybe as a Lions fan I'm just shocked that a coach is actually, finally making use of pre-snap motion like the rest of the league. There were some screen plays that got blown up right away that I didn't like, and the playcalling is at least a little hamstrung by a quarterback who won't throw past the sticks, but overall I liked it.

Defense Bad: I don't have a lot to say about the defensive side of the ball other than "it was a disaster." Okudah had some boneheaded plays, but his Achilles injury puts expectations for this defense even lower. He was hopefully going to make some strides this season. Garoppolo had way too many wide open receivers in this game, and was pressured way too little. Derrick Barnes made some plays down the stretch in very limited snaps, and he might get an increased role in the coming weeks because the other linebackers looked bad. Overall, they seemed lost. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn had his work cut out for him with this roster, but yikes.

Around the League: Since I was actually in the stadium for the Lions game, I missed most of this week's games. As much as I'd like to count out Aaron Rodgers after his horrendous game against the Saints, I can't. He's had these games before, and he's always bounced back. Still, it's nice to see the rest of the NFC North struggle as much as (or even worse than) the Lions in week one. It probably won't hold, but it's enough for me right now.

For the Sunday Night Football game, however, man. That one was hard to watch. Matthew Stafford's debut for the Rams was basically perfect. He hit almost all of his throws on the money, including some beautiful deep passes. While the Rams running game and defense did sputter at times, they held on especially at the end of the game. It was basically everything I wanted to see with Stafford for 12 years in Detroit, and I hate it. Happy for him, but I hate it.

Thoughts On The Packers Ending The Lions' Season.... Again

Matthew Stafford might be out for the rest of the season with a rib injury, meaning means the Lions' season would have been over even with a win against Green Bay [Rey Del Rio/Getty]

The aftermath of last week's Lions game might not have told us much about where the team is now and especially not where it's going in the future, but it was still a very fun time. Detroit was still very technically in the playoff race and had a freshly unleashed Matthew Stafford at the helm. Despite the Lions' laundry list of injuries, Darrell Bevell had a chance this week to tie Matt Patricia's division win total against the dreaded Green Bay Packers.

Unfortunately, the Packers are very much not the Bears. Instead of having one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the league in Mitch Trubisky, the Packers have Aaron Rodgers, an all-time great quarterback who is currently tearing through the league to prove he's still got a lot left in the tank despite just turning 37. He largely tore up the Lions defense in a still-close 31-24 game that was competitive until the end.

The Packers were sustaining long scoring drives for most of the game, keeping Detroit's abysmal defense on the field and tiring them out. The Lions were without several key players both on the defensive line and in the secondary, and there was truly nothing they could do about the Green Bay offense. The Packers only really had one big play in Davante Adams' 56-yard touchdown, but they didn't need big plays. The Lions were solid at forcing the Packers into third down situations, but Rodgers was lethal in those situations. The Packers converted 8 of their 11 third down situations.

The Lions are still mathematically in the playoff equation and could still get the last wild card spot with an 8-8 record and a lot of favors from other teams in the NFC, but this loss to the Packers probably cements them as a team outside the playoff race. The Packers are notorious Lion-killers, and this year is no different. If the Lions have an even mediocre defense, they might be able to stop some of those long, slow Packers scoring drives and win this game. But the Lions don't have a mediocre defense. They have a defense that has Jahlani Tavai trying to cover tight ends.

There was a lot of discussion over the course of the game about officiating, and I do think there were some absolutely dreadful calls in this game. The Lions ended up scoring on the drive anyway, but Marvin Jones' insane catch inside the 5-yard line should've been a catch. I don't know how it wasn't overturned and ruled one. There probably should've been a pass interference call on Matthew Stafford's throw to Quintez Cephus at the end of the first half. The onside kick at the end of regulation was a coin flip, and would've been nearly impossible to overturn no matter what the officials called. Unfortunately, the officials called it out of bounds, and the Packers were able to end the game in victory formation.

While those are tough calls, this isn't one of those egregious officiating jobs against the Lions that completely cost them the game (unlike last year's Lions-Packers game at Lambeau). This loss is entirely on the Lions for failing to stop one of the best offenses in the league. This is a game they could have won, but simply didn't.

But even if the Lions eke out a win and stay more firmly in playoff contention, the season would've likely been over anyway. Matthew Stafford took a rough hit while sliding late in the game, and his status for the rest of the season is unknown with a ribs injury. It's unfortunate. He was having another great game, going 24-34 for 244 yards and a touchdown. If not for some drops he puts up even better numbers. His only real issue this game was maybe holding onto the ball a little too long on some plays with pressure. It didn't help of course that the Lions banged-up offensive line was letting Packers through essentially right after the snap.

With the team's playoff hopes essentially dead, I'd be surprised if Stafford plays another down this season. Some are already wondering aloud if that was the last time we'll ever see him play in a Lions jersey. I don't think that's the case. Unless Stafford decides to retire for his health (which I wouldn't blame him for one bit), I don't think he's getting traded this offseason. The cap hit is still large and he's had enough recent injury concerns that will make him even more difficult to find a suitor. I think at most the Lions draft a young quarterback in the first round and let him learn for a bit while Stafford plays out his contract.

So what does this mean for the rest of the season? It probably means Chase Daniel is playing quarterback, which is a lot less fun than Matthew Stafford. Daniel looked rough in his short appearance on Sunday. I don't see him being able to do much more in the last few weeks. Bevell was able to unleash a quarterback like Stafford in these last two weeks. He can't do that with Daniel.

That's good news for Lions fans that wanted the team to tank for draft position anyway. This defense gets more banged up and plays worse basically every week, and now the offense is going to be hamstrung by a much worse quarterback, a banged-up offensive line that's leaking like a sieve, and various receivers/running backs also playing hurt.

The best-case situation for the Lions under Bevell with playoffs out of the picture was looking competitive against good teams while losing close games and getting draft position. They'll probably have no trouble getting the draft position now. The "playing competitive games" and "being entertaining" parts of the equation aren't looking as good now, though.

What, If Anything, Does The Lions' Win Over the Bears Mean?

Darrell Bevell and Matthew Stafford had just about as good of a game as you could ask against the Bears [Mark J. Rebilas, USA Today]

Sunday was the first game the Detroit Lions played after firing head coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn. Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell took on the role of interim head coach, and the team won a thrilling come-from-behind game against the Chicago Bears 34-30. Most of the last three seasons have been soul-sucking, even when the Lions won. This ended up being an exciting game even for some glaring problems that will need to be addressed by the next regime. But does it actually mean anything?

The answer is probably not much. The Lions are technically one game behind the last wild card spot in the NFC, with a tiebreaker win over the Cardinals and a chance to split the season against the Vikings in the final stretch. However, the Lions played a spiraling Chicago squad that has now lost six straight games, and Detroit needed a little bit of luck to get past them. The Lions defense is still a complete mess, and there are injuries all around the team.

I don't think this game was completely meaningless, however. There are a few things I think we can glean from this game.

First off, the offense played maybe its best game of the season, even without starting running back D'Andre Swift, star receiver Kenny Golladay, and with starting tackle Tyrell Crosby hurting his ankle. The Lions had 460 yards on the day, most of which came from the air. Detroit faced a hefty Bears defense and only punted twice. That's a really good sign.

That's all because Matthew Stafford played his best game of the season on Sunday. He had 402 passing yards for 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. Eight different Lions caught passes from Stafford, even without Golladay, Swift and Marvin Hall, who was released earlier this weekend. Stafford looked like his old self, and he aired it out a heck of a lot more than he did earlier this season.

Does this mean the more conservative gameplan in the passing game was more on Patricia than Bevell? It's hard to say. Bevell might just be unleashing Stafford more because he really doesn't have much to lose at this point. A more fiery Stafford lets him win more games, which gives him a better shot at becoming the full-time head coach at the end of the season (or at least keeping his job as offensive coordinator). No matter what, it's still good to see a more unleashed Stafford. Bevell said he just wanted the guys to have fun out there this week, and No. 9 definitely looked like he was having a blast. The pick was unfortunate, but for the majority of the game, Stafford looked like he was once again The Guy.

There were still some problems from the offense of the last 11 weeks this week, though. Adrian Peterson did have 57 yards and 2 touchdowns, but he got them averaging 3.6 yards per carry. There was still a little too much run-run-pass in the offensive gameplan for my liking, but that's one of my few complaints on the offensive side of the ball.

Marvin Jones had a killer day as Stafford's number one option with 116 yards and a score on 8 receptions. T.J. Hockenson continues to play really well as the top tight end option on the team. Quintez Cephus, Danny Amendola and even Mohamed Sanu had solid contributions. Jamal Agnew's role as a gadget player didn't look great, however. He's a very talented returner, but he adds enough on either offense or defense to warrant a roster spot at this point.

The defense showed that it still needs a lot of work when the next GM comes in. Mitch Trubisky now has a passer rating of over 100 in five of his five games against the Lions. Trubisky is one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the league, if not the worst. Having him torch the Lions every time they meet is unacceptable. The Lions secondary is very banged up right now, but even considering that, they need to do better.

The linebackers definitely still need a lot of work along with the secondary. There were way too many missed and broken tackles on the second and third levels. Jamie Collins either looks like a complete stud or a complete liability when he's out there, with very little in between. That's still a considerable amount better than the guys he plays next to.

The defensive line didn't get completely gashed, but they still gave up way too many yards to David Montgomery and Cordarrelle Patterson. There were impressive plays late in the game from Romeo Okwara, Kevin Strong and John Penisini, but you still want to see more from Detroit's defensive front.

If there's anything to learn from this game, it's that there's still enough talent and weapons on offense for the Lions to be one of the better teams in the league at scoring. That it's been held back for so long in Patricia's tenure really is a huge indictment on that regime (and also on Bevell if he did play a role in the more conservative playcalling from earlier in the season). On the other hand, the next GM and head coach have a lot of work to do with that defense. It's been discussed ad nauseum how a "defensive guru" like Patricia could create a unit this bad is completely ridiculous, but it does bear repeating. The defense is atrocious, and I don't think it would be that different even if it was at full health.

This game probably doesn't play much of a factor in how heavily Bevell is considered for the next coaching job, but if he does continue to call plays like this, he'll go further up the list of candidates. If he can indeed win most of the last few games against quality opponents and possibly even sneak the Lions in the playoff race, he'll deserve it. I don't know if that gets him above a candidate like Robert Saleh of the 49ers (who seems tailor-made for the Detroit gig), but it'll definitely make the decision harder.

The same goes for Matthew Stafford. The Lions are going to have some interesting decisions to make with Stafford's future. I'm not nearly as convinced as many are that Stafford is going to be trade-bait this offseason (that contract will still a difficult one to dump on another team even if he's playing well). I think if anything, they'll draft a young quarterback to learn under Stafford while he plays out his current contract. That will become even more likely if the Lions hire an offensive-minded head coach like Joe Brady or Eric Bienemy (if Bevell stays or if the Lions go more defensive-minded like Saleh, I think the regime might be more comfortable with a more proven commodity like Stafford sticking around). If he continues to play more like he did in this game and less like he has against, say, the Vikings, it'll be a lot tougher decision for anyone who does want him gone.

But these are things we won't know until week 17. This team is basically a blank slate now that Patricia is gone, and we only have a one-game sample size against a Bears team in complete freefall to know what they look like without him. One thing I do know is that I had a lot of fun watching this game, and that was nice for a change.

A Postmortem for the Quinntricia Lions, 2018-2020

Patricia wearing a shirt with Goodell as a clown was a very "takes one to know one" situation

As a lifelong Detroit Lions fan, I’ve seen plenty of pain and sadness in my 26 years on this earth. The 2008 Lions remain the worst team in the history of the NFL (the only other team to go 0-16, the 2017 Cleveland Browns, was much better than the 2008 Lions). I’ve never seen the Lions host a playoff game. I’ve never seen them win a playoff game. The team’s last division title was a year before I was born. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have more titles in the Lions’ division in my lifetime; the Bucaneers haven’t played in said division for 18 years.

My family owned season tickets to the Lions for most of the last decade. This means I was able to witness many heartbreaks firsthand. I attended games during that dreadful 0-16 season. I saw the Jim Schwartz Rule live as it happened. I saw the Suh Stomp in another Thanksgiving Day loss. When Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler missed a significant part of the 2013 season, the NFC North was the Lions’ to lose. I was at the game where Justin Tucker single-footedly kicked the Lions out of contention that year. The walk to the car with my father after that game felt more like the aftermath of a funeral than a football game. 

Yet none of this sadness or heartbreak ever made me want to stop being a Lions fan. I’ve been hooked on this team for my entire life. In good seasons and bad seasons, they’ve always at least kept me entertained. Matt Millen as GM couldn’t break me. Neither could Steve Mariucci, Rod Marinelli or Marty Morninwheg as coaches. Not even the quarterback play of Scott Mitchell, Dave Krieg, Don Majkowski, Charlie Batch, Frank Reich, Gus Frerotte, Stoney Case, Ty Detmer, Mike McMahon, Joey Harrington, Jeff Garcia, Jon Kitna, Dan Orlovsky, Daunte Culpepper, or Drew Stanton could keep me from loving this stupid, awful football team.

Matt Patricia was different, but now he’s gone. Patricia was fired last Saturday after going 13-29-1 in his career as Lions coach. That’s one more loss and one more tie than his predecessor Jim Caldwell had. That’s also 23 less wins than Caldwell.

Patricia was hired specially by his friend from New England Bob Quinn, who was also fired on Saturday. They spent the last two and a half years completely dismantling everything that was good or fun about Jim Caldwell’s teams. They broke me as a fan in ways I didn’t think possible

Even when Caldwell’s teams (and even Jim Schwartz’s teams before him) were losing games, they were often at least entertaining, the classic Lions finding new and interesting ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. When they won, it was exciting. Matthew Stafford leading game-winning drives in the last few minutes of a game was a regular occurrence. It was a rollercoaster that had plenty of downs, but man, those ups felt good.

The Matt Patricia/Bob Quinn Lions weren’t a rollercoaster. They weren’t much of anything other than losers. The few wins the team has gotten in the past three years have mostly been ugly, grit-it-out wins. The losses were mostly ugly late-game collapses or complete domination at the hands of the Lions’ opponents. There was nothing exciting about this football team. Even when Stafford was playing perhaps the best football of his career before an injury cut his 2019 campaign short, the team couldn’t win games. The Matt Patricia Lions were the least competitive Lions team since 2008. Even Jim Schwartz for all his faults was putting out better teams.

This is because the Quinntricia team was dead-set on doing things their way no matter how little it was working. The Lions wanted to establish the run on offense and stop the run on defense. These are good and noble things to want your football teams to do, but they shouldn’t be your main goals in the modern NFL.

Patricia and Quinn seemed to have an active disdain for pressuring opposing quarterbacks. On offense, they seemed dead set on running the ball up the middle even when it was clear it wasn’t going to work. Defenses knew when the Lions had the ball, it was going to be run-run-pass-punt. Like clockwork.

As little fun as fans were having during these losses, players seemed to be having even less fun. Matt Patricia came into the locker room wanting to be a hard-assed, disciplined football coach. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it only works if you can get the respect of your team. By all accounts, Patricia failed to do this in his first season. As opposed to Caldwell, who was absolutely adored by his players, Patricia butted heads with a ton of his best players, especially those that had bigger personalities or posted a lot on social media. There’s a difference between being a hardass coach and just being a dick, and the Lions lost out on a lot of talent because of Patricia’s approach. Here are just a few of the players that Patricia  and Quinn alienated in Detroit:

• Golden Tate: Pro Bowl WR, one of Stafford’s favorite targets, 7th all-time in Lions receiving yards, 5th all-time in receptions. Traded to the Eagles for a 3rd round pick.

• Glover Quin: Pro Bowl safety, former second team All-Pro, team captain, one of the best Lions defenders of the last decade. Retired after a down year in 2018.

• Quandre Diggs: Starter at safety and team captain. Traded to Seattle for a 5th round pick after struggling a few weeks. His play immediately bounced back with the Seahawks.

• Darius Slay: Three-time Pro Bowl corner, All-Pro, Detroit’s best defensive player from 2014-2019. Traded to Philadelphia for a 3rd rounder and 5th rounder. Perhaps the most well-known critic of the Quinntricia front office.

• Eric Ebron: Cut from the Lions after a killer finish to 2017. Became a Pro Bowler the very next season with the Colts. Might win a ring in Pittsburgh this year.

• Graham Glasgow: No accolades, but one of the Lions’ most consistent offensive linemen who was a quality starter at any position on the interior. Wasn’t even approached about a contract extension despite great play and Quinn being a GM who always talked about the importance of the trenches.

With the exception of Ebron who always got a raw deal from Lions fans, these players weren’t just quality starters; they were fan favorites. Patricia’s style ran all of them out of town. 

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A’Shawn Robinson, Ziggy Ansah, Travis Fulgham, Toby Johnson, and Elijah Lee are just a few of the former players that danced on Patricia’s grave as he left. Star receiver Kenny Golladay liked a post on Instagram announcing the firing. I’ve been a fan of the NFL my entire life. I’ve never seen former players come out like this after a coach was fired. This was a complete and utter embarrassment from the front office and coaching staff.

To add insult to injury, the players this front office did bring in were rarely much better. And the more Patriot-like “culture fits” that Quinn would sign often seemed undisciplined and prone to stupid mistakes in games, even veterans like Jamie Collins and Danny Amendola, who are still two of the better players they brought in.

But the actual quality of the players never mattered. It was doing things their way, in opposition to any reality. Instead of building on what Schwartz and then Caldwell did, Quinntricia tore it down. They wanted their archaic vision of football to work, even if it meant completely dismantling the Lions roster trying to fit this square peg through that round hole.

Now the Lions are back to square one. The next GM and head coach will inherit one of the biggest messes in the NFL. The defense that Jim Caldwell and Teryl Austin left was bad, but “defensive genius” Matt Patricia’s is even worse. There are some really solid pieces on offense, but the team only has one receiver signed after this year, and it’s the fourth man on the depth chart. Matthew Stafford isn’t getting any younger, he’s dealt with lingering injuries in the last few seasons, and his play has gone down this season. The new powers that be might see that and look to draft a new franchise quarterback. 

And some of this could have been avoided. It was abundantly clear after last year that this wasn’t working, but these two losers were given another half-season to make “the Patriot Way” work before they were fired on a holiday weekend. Maybe if they were fired after last season, the next GM could’ve mended things with Slay. Maybe Golladay would have signed an extension by now. Maybe Jeff Okudah could be showing more signs of life in his rookie season if he was working with better coaches than Patricia and Cory Undlin.

But what’s done is done. The Lions let this dumpster fire burn for an extra eleven games, but now the arsonists are gone. I don’t envy the next coach and GM, but I am excited to get excited about football again after two and a half years of this regime beating my love of the sport out of me.

Tigers Series Review: vs. Royals (7/27-7/30)

Because 2020 wasn't weird enough, JaCoby Jones is one of the best players in all of baseball through one week of play [AP]

Well, baseball is still being played (for now). There are a bunch of teams dealing with themselves or opponents testing positive for COVID, but that's only led to a bunch of game postponements in a season where they're already trying to play as many baseball games as they can in a very short amount of time. It seems as though even though HALF OF AN ENTIRE TEAM is affected, this is still happening.

The Tigers have still played all of their games so far (we'll see if they play against the Cardinals next week). This week, they split a series 2-2 with the Royals. The Royals seemed to really have the Tigers number in several games. Kansas City's two wins especially, they were hitting seemingly every gap they could find (they had 13 hits in both of those games).

The Tigers did manage to steal a couple games on their continuing home run hot streak. I'm not sure how long that can last, but it's a very welcome sight for now.

MV-JaCoby: The biggest surprise of the year is easily JaCoby Jones' hitting prowess. He's the ninth batter in the order, but he's easily been the best hitter through seven games. Jones has been a career .216 hitter which is very, very bad. Yet somehow he's here with a .409 batting average, .458 on-base percentage and three home runs. Against the Royals, he went 6-for-12 with 2 home runs and a walk. He's continued to be a plus on defense, and if he keeps up this hot streak on offense, he's a huge threat.

C.J. Cron Crashes: Over the weekend I sang the praises of Tigers first baseman C.J. Cron, who at the time looked like he might be Detroit's bat. He's going to want to forget about this Royals series after going 0-for-12 with 8 strikeouts. Cron is currently tied for second in the league in striking out the most times. His batting average has sunk to .174 on the year, but thanks to some walks he's still got one of the better OBP's on the team. Hopefully his offense can warm up a little more against the Reds again this weekend.

A Triple Schoop Of Homers: Jonathan Schoop only had three hits against Kansas City, but all three of them were home runs. He had one each for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's games, batting in 6 runs. Obviously I'd like to see something a little less all-or-nothing from him, but it's hard to complain much about a guy who came up big like that in back-to-back-to-back games.

Speaking of Only Hitting Home Runs: I'm convinced that Miguel Cabrera will have 30 hits in the entire season, and 25 of those will be home runs. His only hit against Cincinnati was a homer, and two of Miggy's three in this series were homers (both on Thursday night, his first two-home run game since 2016). After a really rough Reds series, Miggy's making more contact in general. He only struck out twice this go-around.

Missing Bats: Cameron Maybin took the Royals series as a chance to get his batting average to a respectable .278 after a shaky start, but a lot more players are still struggling to do much offense.

Jeimer Candelario needs to get it together quickly. He has yet to get a single hit, and his OBP is a dreadful .105. Grayson Greiner plays a lot less as the backup catcher, but he also hasn't reached base on a hit. Regular leadoff man Niko Goodrum is batting a paltry .217. Christin Stewart finally got his first hits of the season against Kansas City including the go-ahead home run on Tuesday's game, but he's still largely struggling.

Of the Tigers that have appeared regularly in the lineup, only Jones, Cron and Victor Reyes have an OBP above .300. This offense is hitting home runs at clutch times, but there's no real consistency. The Tigers lead the league in home runs, but they're second in the league in striking out, are 26th in batting average and 25th in OBP. I mentioned Schoop's offense being all-or-nothing, but really that's the entire team right now aside from JaCoby Jones.

Starters Struggling: The Tigers starting pitchers still have yet to record a quality start. Ivan Nova came close on Thursday, but got pulled after 5.2 innings because he put a few guys on base. While he only had two runs earned against him, the Royals bats were still feasting on a lot of his pitchers, getting 8 hits off of him. He certainly looked better here than he did against the Reds, but a lot of those hits were for extra bases. Nova's a pitch-to-contact hitter. It comes with the territory. But you obviously want to see that contact ending in a lot more gloves than grass. 

I'm starting to worry about Matthew Boyd. The first pitcher in Detroit's rotation had another rough outing on Wednesday. He had a bit more control this time around, striking out 6 batters, but he began his appearance looking very shaky and wild. He had 4 runs earned against him off 9 hits. He didn't walk anybody or give up any home runs, and it was nice to see him rein it in a bit in the later innings, but he still doesn't look quite like himself yet.

Michael Fulmer made his first appearance since Tommy John surgery on Monday's game, and he got beat up early. He only made it through 2.2 innings, giving up 5 hits, 4 runs (3 of them home runs), and a walk with 3 strikeouts thrown in there. Since he's returning from surgery and had to deal with a shortened training campaign, I'm not necessarily surprised. He's got a lot of rust he needs to take care of. I can't see him returning to 2016-17 form, and if he wants to even just be a reliable starter in the back of the rotation it will probably take a bit of work.

Tuesday's game was a bullpen game. Rony Garcia pitched fine enough in his debut: 3 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 3 strikeouts, no walks in three innings. Those three runs were the only ones the Royals would get, and the rest of the bullpen was able to take care of things pretty easily. Garcia didn't look like a world-beater, but he didn't need to be. It was a solid MLB debut.

Bullpen Review: I'll keep things short and sweet. Jose Cisnero, Buck Farmer, Gregory Soto and Joe Jimenez are all looking good-to-stellar. Cisnero has given up two runs in his four innings pitched, but I've thought his stuff looked mostly good. Soto and Farmer both have yet to give up a run. Jimenez leads the league in saves. John Schreiber is another reliever that hasn't given up a run, but I need to see a bit more of him.

After that, things are looking iffier. The Tigers are relying on a lot of young relievers that are facing major league hitters for the first time. Kyle Funkhouser, Beau Burrows and Anthony Castro are all going to need a bit of seasoning. The three of them made their MLB debuts on Monday, and the Royals were relentless against them. Detroit just picked up Carson Fulmer off of waivers. He made his first appearance as a Tiger on Monday and was scoreless, but struggled in his outing on Thursday, allowing Kansas City's last two runs that would be enough to seal the game for the Royals.

A lot of these guys have obviously only pitched 2-4 innings apiece over the course of 7 games. We're obviously going to have to see a bit more from each of them before we can make any real judgments. Since the Tigers starting pitchers haven't been going very deep into games, we'll probably get those opportunities soon.

Overall, the Tigers are just about as frustrating to watch as I expected, but they're stealing enough games to make things interesting. With the exception of the Opening Day game against the Reds and the home opener against the Royals, things have at least been relatively close. The team has plenty of offensive struggles, but they're making it up with a lot of home runs that makes the team fun to watch when they are making contact with balls. From this small sample size, I don't think the Tigers will be much of a threat even in an expanded playoff this season. However, the team definitely feels like it will be able to steal some games they probably shouldn't win, and with younger players hopefully being called up soon, I'm definitely interested in seeing where things go.