Well maybe not yet. Officially, anyway. But after their Thanksgiving day loss to the Minnesota Vikings, giving them a ho-hum 6-5 record, it sure appears to be shaping up into "just another year" for the Motown squad.
Lead em on, lead em on, lead em on (the ever-gullible fans), then WHAM, let em down. Again. Of course the team is aided and abetted in this historically cruel hoax by the snake-oil peddling local media.
Now a full three games behind the Vikes with only 5 to go, it's highly unlikely the Lions will capture their division this year. So what else is new? However, it could change yet again. Minnesota's next two games are brutal, against Atlanta and Carolina -- both on the road. And not counting next week's game in Baltimore, the Lions have a cupcake schedule the rest of the way out. One more dagger in the fans' collective hearts may yet come into play.
But let's look at the Lions' schedule, both past and upcoming. It strongly suggests they are not as good as they and their fans think they are. Smoke, mirrors, and every conceivable break has gone their way so far.
The Lions have played exactly four teams (five if you count the up to date Vikings -- more on that below and in a follow-up post). And lost them all, four of them in the friendly confines of Ford Field. Ouch.
They were the Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Now consider the teams the Lions have defeated.
First up the Arizona Cardinals. After a few years of being semi-competitive, the Cards have taken a serious nose-dive this year. Not a good team.
Then the stink-it-up, gawd awful 2017 version of the NY Giants.
One against the Vikings, who were then freshly down to their third string quarterback and without the services of their star running back.
Another against the Green Bay Packers, with All-World QB Aaron Rodgers having recently broken his collar bone.
Two more, one past and one to go, against Da Bears of Chicago. They haven't been any good since the heady days of Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, and the fearsome 46 defense -- back in the 80s. Now they've got a rookie quarterback to boot.
One against the perennial dregs of the NFL, sometimes known as the Cleveland Browns.
Another upcoming date with the Cincinnati Bengals. Hint -- if Marvin Lewis is still the head coach there -- this team still isn't any good. He is, and they aren't.
Another against the Tampa Bay Bucs, which totally came apart at the seams weeks ago.
One more against the Pack. Even if Rodgers is back, iffy at best, no way will be up to full speed, plus at that point, the Cheesers likely won't have much to play for. Since #12 went down, they've gone into a horrible tailspin.
In the aforementioned recently concluded Turkey day game against the Vikes, it turns out that third-stringer, one Case Keenum, has come into his own, and then some. They've rattled off seven wins in a row.
So add it all up and what do you have? The Lions can't beat anybody good, even at home, but have benefited from a ridiculously soft schedule with every possible circumstance and break falling their way.
This is a worthy play-off team, even in the unlikely scenario they get there?
I don't think so. They're ripe for another post-season beat down, again, what else is new?
Meanwhile quarterback Matthew Stafford, recently made the (cough/choke/gag/snort/LOL) highest paid player in the entire NFL, is playing out the string in his ninth season.
And no matter how the Lions finish, even if they win them all -- right -- dear Matthew will still have a sub -.500 record for his career.
Nine years (a long career for a lot of guys), not a single playoff win, let alone getting anywhere near sniffing a Super Bowl, and this guy is top dog on the money list?
Does anybody see something seriously wrong with this picture?
All the above would seem to be the magical world the Detroit Lions continue to live in.
And when they officially finally crash and burn this season -- you know it's coming, tick, tick, tick -- adding just one more to their already over half a century scrap pile, here's the scary part......
The same fans will be back next year, with the same media goading them on, convinced as always that THIS will be the one.
Perhaps it's not scary after all.
Just sad.
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