Detroit Lions and ill winds

You know your football team is in trouble when:

1) The coaches and players have to say they still stand behind their starting quarterback, despite how miserable his recent performances may have been. Be it in business, politics, or sports, usually a vote of confidence means somebody is on very thin ice.

2) There are whispers the head coach may have "lost his team". It doesn't have to be true, but the mere mention of the possibility is a very bad omen that has not played out well in the past. When the home-town media has to put a positive spin on a losing coach, it is definitely a red flag.

3) A player rips the home town fans because they didn't cheer loud enough at the last game. Well gee. Could it be said player and the rest of the team were stinking it up yet again in front of people that had coughed up big bucks to be in the stadium? And BTW, who's paying who's salary? The fans have every right to boo when their team continues to be incompetent. It's not a privilege, it's they're right. They paid for it. Said player is only showing his own arrogant stupidity. It doesn't matter how much he subsequently backtracks after catching major flak and tries to smooth things over. Even the cleverest people can't unring a bell they've already rung, and this guy appears to be little more than a grossly overpaid underperforming selfish idiot.

4) After such high preseason expectations, the team currently stands at 0-5 and apparently getting worse every week. If your team is the only one in the entire league that has yet to win a single game, you just might want to ease off on the koolaid a bit.

5) The ominous Game Six looms so large. The Chicago Bears are coming to town for a game against the Lions this Sunday. When the season started, Lions' fans thought this was a gimme. Now it's looking like anything but an automatic W. Even at home, Detroit is only a mere 3 point favorite against Da Bears. In other words, the bookies consider the teams evenly matched but give 3 to the home team.

Here's the deal. The Lions better hope they can beat the Bears. The Honolulu blue and silver wheels have already become quite wobbly this season. Defeating Chicago would be nothing to crow about, because the Lions' playoff hopes died a couple weeks back. But still, a win would be a win.

But if they lose at home to the Bears to go 0-6 -- entirely possible given their sorry current state of affairs -- the wheels just might fall off completely. Jim Caldwell's seat would rightfully begin heating up, and even their most faithful media might start sniping. That's not even to mention the finger-pointing that would likely start in the locker room.

It could turn into a regular zoo free-for-all. Then again, isn't that pretty much what the Lions have been over the last half century or so?