Detroit Lions. Season on the brink

Though they all count the same, it seems some games are more important than others. Such would be the case with the upcoming Detroit Lions/Chicago Bears showdown this Sunday.

If the Lions lose that game, and they're roughly a touchdown underdog, they can pretty well kiss the 2018 season good-bye. Not that this will be anything new, far from it, given their sorry history, but there were those that thought maybe, just maybe, they'd find a way to get into the playoffs this year.

However, if they go down in flames in Chicago, the Lions would find themselves at 3-6 and a full three games behind the Bears in the NFC North with only seven games left to play.

The following week paints an even more grim scenario when the Carolina Panthers come to Detroit. Cam Newton and Co. had been rolling right along at 6-2, in the thick of the playoff hunt. And then they went to Pittsburgh -- where they were absolutely thrashed 52-21 by the Steelers.

Needless to say, Carolina is likely a little pissed off right about now and will be wanting to take it out on somebody. And let's face it, they're a better team than the Lions anyway.

On top of that, the Panthers, having just played on Thursday night, will get an extra three days rest (and game planning) before they lock horns with the Motown Puddy Tats.

If the Lions were to lose that one, entirely possible, if not probable, they'd be 3-7 and even the most koolaided Honolulu blue and silver folks would find it difficult to see any salvation in sight.

True, later down the road they have a couple "patsy" games against the likes of the Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals. Both those teams stink.

But they also have to play the LA Rams, whom many think are the best team in the entire league. Chances of winning that one? Mighty slim. Plus a rematch with the Minnesota Vikings, another superior team, and a trip to Green Bay, always an ordeal, especially in the dead of winter (Dec. 30) when it will likely be absolutely frigid. The Lions being an indoor team doesn't help them any in such environs.

So yes, the coming game with the Bears would appear to be the brink for the Lions. If they win, they're still technically "alive". But lose, and things start looking mighty ugly.

No pressure.

Then again, they ARE still the Lions, right?

So who in their right mind would expect much of them?

History, over a half century of it, says otherwise. A grand total of one measly playoff victory since Super Bowls started way back in 1967. When Lyndon Johnson was still President. The Vietnamese "Tet Offensive" hadn't happened yet. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were still alive. How long ago was that?

One of only four teams to have never even reached the Super Bowl, let alone won it. And the other three are/were "expansion" teams.

So yeah, in that respect, it's just another year for the ever sad sack Lions.

Yawn.