Schwartz Sends Wrong Message to Players and Fans

It seems that anyone who actually read the rule, can see that by the letter of the law, the Lions should have won against the Bears. Calvin Johnson made the catch and by how the rule was written, it was a touchdown. Yet the Lions coach, Jim Schwartz just accepts the blatant lies from the NFL.

The refs said it was incomplete. The NFL spokesmen have said that the refs were correct and that only those who knows the rule understands the definition. I have read the rule and I can tell you, the NFL's definition is adding meaning that is not in the wording of the rule. Yet Schwartz will not speak against it. Instead, Jim Schwartz has said that the Lions did not play well and he will not let the players think that they lost the game because of one play.

I have news for you Jim. That is exactly what happened! Yes the Lions offense was horrible. Sure they missed Forte badly and gave up the long score. I understand that if the Lions would have played better that they would have won anyway and that rule wouldn't have made a difference. Yada yada yada!

The fact is, however bad the offense was, as a team the Detroit Lions played well enough to beat the Bears. If the refs would not be adding secret meanings to the rules that are not in the contents of the rules, the Lions would have won. So any way you put it, that screw up by the refs cost the Lions a win in Chicago.

I understand what Jim Schwartz is trying to do. He is looking to take the high road rather than whine about something he cannot change. He is trying to push his team to play better so that they wont be in that position again. But the message I see coming across is that he will not stick up for the honor and dignity of the Detroit Lions organization or its players or their fans.

Schwartz could easily say that he is upset that his players did not execute better and so on, but he could also say... "that being said, that was a touchdown. Johnson and Hill should have touchdowns on their stat lines. Hill should have a win under his belt. The fans should have had a better week because the Lions won! The NFL owes them an apology!"

As the leader of the Detroit Lions, coach Jim Schwartz should be willing to face a fine to stand up for his players and the teams fans. The city of Detroit has been too loyal through extremely bad times in the last forever, and to have a win snatched away because of a bad interpretation to a rule is a terrible crime. To have the NFL tell us we don't know how to interpret the rule, as if we cannot look at what is written and see that what the refs say simply is not in the rule, that is ridiculous. But the worst crime of them all against the Detroit Lions fans, is that after being so thoroughly screwed over, our coach is not willing to defend his team or their fans.