The Detroit Lions will look to make one last effort to get their third win of the season when the Chicago Bears come to Ford Field this Sunday. The game was sold out and the Lions will be on television one last time in 2009. For some reason, I am expecting there will be a whole lot of Bear fans in the stands.
Jim Schwartz has not said whether he will start Stanton or Culpepper at quarterback this Sunday. It is believed by the media that Culpepper will get the call. Last week he gave Stanton his first start of his career and it was a dismal performance. Not that Culpepper has looked any good since Stafford went down. This is a prime example of one of Schwartz' major failings. All he cares about is winning one more game. Not a person alive will think any different of the Lions or Schwartz if the Lions win three games rather than two games. The win does nothing for the Lions. Winning the last game of the season does not give the players any confidence in the next year. Daunte Culpepper's contract is up and he will be a free agent next year. The Lions are not going to resign him if he plays well this one game. So what does it help to play him? Drew Stanton on the other hand is a different story. Stanton is signed through next year, so he will likely still be a back-up next year. He has only started one game in his career. Yes it was bad, but isn't it possible he was just overwhelmed in his first start? Likely that is not the case, but it is possible. What if Stanton started and he actually played well? A young QB with a decent arm and plays well in only his second start? Do you think he might fetch the Lions a mid to late round draft pick then? As I said. It is all highly unlikely, but so long as the possibility is there, you should take the chance and start him. Starting Culpepper gives the Lions nothing in return.
Schwartz has said that he will play whoever he feels gives the Lions the best chance to win. He has said straight out that he will not play a player just to see what he has got. He does not look to the future. He ONLY looks toward the next game. That is a very bad thing. If the Lions had a winning team, then maybe that would make sense. The Lions are once again one of the worst teams in the NFL. The future us what needs to be considered far more importantly than one last game in a losing season. But Jim Schwartz does not care about the future of the team. He only cares about the last game when the Lions are 2-14. This is why he will once again start Maurice Morris and not even look at what Aaron Brown might do with a heavier work load. Even though Morris reverted to his true form and only gained 37 yards on the ground last week. Even though he only averaged 2.7 yards per carry. In a bad week for Morris, Schwartz only gave Aaron Brown one carry. For the most part, even though Brown has been nothing but average as a return man, he has done the most with what few chances he has had as a running back. He has a good yards per carry average and has a few decent runs. It makes absolutely no sense to continue to play a veteran who is nothing better than average and not even look at a rookie running back who has a lot of speed.
As disappointing as the Lions offense is bound to be yet again with Schwartz ridiculous decisions to play average veterans over rookies with possible talent, the Lions defense is another story.
Rookie linebacker, DeAndre Levy will once again play the middle position and make all of the defensive play calls. I read one article on MLive, that talked about Levy's ability as a leader on the team. In a practice when a defensive lineman was jawing at the offensive players after a good defensive play, Levy grabbed the veteran by the pads behind his neck and told him to shut up and listen for the play call and be ready. This is not something a rookie does very often in the NFL and it shows a lot for this young linebackers leadership ability.
Rookie Free Safety, Louis Delmas has been calling all of the secondary plays for the last couple of games. He has backed up the responsibility of calling plays with very good quality play of his own. He has been one of the few bright spots in another disappointing Lions season and is second on the team in tackles behind veteran linebacker Larry Foote.
The Chicago Bears have not been playing the best of football in recent weeks. Last weeks overtime win was their first game scoring more than 14 points in over a month. If the Lions offense was not such a mess at this time, I would say the Lions could actually win this game. The Lions offense is bad though and however much better the defense has been playing lately, you cant win if you cant score.
Bears 23
Lions 17
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