To the surprise of many, including yours truly, the Detroit Lions finished up the 2018 season with an impressive win, throttling Green Bay, in Green Bay, to the tune of 31-0. But was it really that impressive? I'll get back to that.
Problem was, and almost always is, the season had long been a lost cause for the Honolulu blue and silver puddy-tats.
It quickly became apparent in Week One, when they were throttled at home by the lowly New York Jets. 48-17 is a beat-down, no matter how you slice it or dice it.
Getting whupped by the equally bad San Fran 49ers the following week was an exclamation point to the phrase, "you ain't no good, again".
Then something very strange happened, the sort of thing that always drives the bookies crazy when it comes to the Lions. In Week Three, they handily dispatched Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. How the HELL did THAT happen? A confounding enigma for the ages.
Once again, the Detroit sappies had the ever-elusive "hope". Suckers.
As the season went on, the Lions would, no surprise, lose more than they won. A final record of 6-10 doesn't lie.
And one of those wins was of the miracle variety against the above-mentioned Packers. Green Bay's long-time and ever-reliable place-kicker Mason Crosby apparently went temporarily brain dead or spastic against the Lions. How else to explain him missing three "chip-shot" field goals and an extra point? That's ten points the Packers should have had. The Lions won by eight. Thing is, Lions fans always take the good breaks in stride, like they were supposed to happen. But they'll scream bloody murder when the shoe is on the other foot and something goes against them. NOT FAIR!!! Hmm. Sound familiar from a certain politician? Ahem.
Hey, you can't lose to gawd-awful teams like the Jets, 49ers, and later on the Buffalo Bills, unless you're pretty bad yourself.
Getting back to the Packers, that proud franchise appears to be in free-fall. More chaos than what's going on in DC.
First of all, what could they POSSIBLY have been thinking when they let long-time star receiver Jordy Nelson go back in March? No trade, just released him. Bang, you're outta here. For one thing, he was only 33 years old. Not exactly a young pup any more but hardly a geezer either. Plus, he'd been quarterback Aaron Rodgers' favorite target during his ten years with the Packers, putting up impressive numbers every year. Steady as they come.
Rodgers himself appears to be in decline, but the team around him, both offensively and defensively, has hugely regressed as well.
And to cap it all off, they fired long-time head coach Mike McCarthy in the middle of the season, only to bring in another retread with a different system? It was a recipe for disaster, and that's exactly what happened.
So maybe the Lions victory in Lambeau wasn't so impressive after all. Neither team had anything to play for at that point, but the Packers had already been coming apart at the seams all year long. They were just going through the proverbial motions, and in a dysfunctional way at that.
Yet it's just like the Lions to do this to their ever-gullible fans.
They won't remember how horrible the team was for the majority of the 2018 season.
Nosirree. They're back on their own special version of "cloud nine" savoring the 31-0 thumping they gave the Packers.
And they'll be chomping at the bit to get behind their heroes when the 2019 campaign kicks off next summer/fall. No matter who or what the Lions take in the NFL draft, the team will claim it a huge success, every one of those bodies is a can't-miss stud, they got everybody they wanted to -- and the fans will buy it hook, line, and stinker again. Did I mention suckers?
But guess what? It was hardly a surprise the Lions stunk it up in 2018. And they won't be any good next year either. Or the year after that. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Like Calvin Megatron Johnson, who played a full decade and never tasted a single playoff victory, then got out of the madness of Detroit with his mind and body intact, and plenty of dough in the bank, it's quite likely quarterback Matthew Stafford will never win a playoff game either. And BTW, is there a more ridiculously overpaid athlete on the planet than Detroit's Georgia Peach? The dude's making $30 million a year, has a career record of about ten games UNDER .500, and has never won a playoff game? What kind of insanity is this?
The answer, of course, is it's insanity, Detroit/Ford ownership style. Has been for over a half century.
It is worth noting that when the late William Clay Ford closed the deal on buying the team, it was on the exact same day John F. Kennedy took quite a fateful ride in Dallas.
That right there should have been an omen, a very bad one. But of course nobody noticed some auto company heir purchasing an NFL team with all the mayhem following those gunshots in Big D.
In sum, it's just another year for the Lions. 6-10? Business as usual.
And yes, they are, and remain the.....same.....old.....Lions.
Would any sane person expect anything else of them?
Yawn.
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