After losing to the Vikings, the Lions are now 1-3 and their season is already on the ropes.
Have you ever been right about something and hated the fact more than if you'd have been wrong? I tried to warn people that the Lions were a deception last year. I tried to tell them that they were not as good as their 10-6 record. Very few agreed with me. Most bought into the "they will be better because of continuity" hype. Now the Lions are 1-3 and proving me right. And I hate htat more than I can put words to.
After giving up a Kick Return and a punt return for a TD each game, for two straight weeks, there are many who are now trying to say the Lions would be 3-1 if the ST could play better. I dont buy it. Let us say that the Kick-off was not returned for a score. Would we still have been kicked off to the next play? No! Minnesota would have had the ball and their offense would have been on the field longer. Which means the Lions offense would have been on the field less.
If you want to see what went wrong, just go read my last weeks article. Or the week before that. Or many of my articles last year and in the off-season. It goes something like this. The offense could not move the ball in the first three quarters. The defense could not stop the pass and made yet another average quarterback look like Joe Montana. The special teams was horrible again. With the team behind in the score, Schwartz was content to run the clock out rather than try to move the ball enough to just get a field goal. Does all of this sound familiar? Yeah. I thought so!
It is this simple people. The Lions have more talent on the team than all but 2 or 3 teams in the NFL. The problem is the coaches just are not any good! Look at the last three years and try to tell me what Jim Schwartz has done to give you confidence. The only thing I can think of is that he helped Mayhew add some good talent to the team. Good front office job by the coach. That is fine and dandy, but that is why they hired scouts and a GM. The coach is hired to implement his game plan and out smart his opponents. TO get a team ready to play each and every week. So far his game plans have not been good, and I have yet to see him out coach an opponent. The team has had more problems off the field with Schwartz as coach than ever before in my lifetime.
What about Linehan gives you confidence? That Stafford threw for over 5000 yards last year? Well, if so much didnt come against bad teams late in the games to make come-backs, I would agree. But more often than not, he cannot get this offense going until late in the game, and that is usually attributed to the opponent switching to the "Bend but dont break Defense".Which usually means... "Let's see how close we can make this game before time runs out". Linehan has no idea how to get a running game going, and the only time the Lions have ever shown any ability to run the ball with him as the OC, is when they face very bad run defenses.
Cunningham never shows aggressiveness. For all of his cheap talk about getting to the QB no matter what it takes, he refuses to blitz more than 2 or 3 times a game, and when he does, he rarely disguises it. He continues to use the wide-9 defensive scheme that opens wide holes for the RBs to grab big gains.
Crossman has also been under a lot of fire as the Lions Special Teams Coach. Giving 4 special teams TDs in two weeks is unacceptable! Right now, Crossman is the worst of the four coaches, and that is saying a lot!
The Lions will win a few games at one point this year, and everyone might start believing they are good again. Dont be sucked into it. I dont believe in making change just for the sake of change, but if the Lions do not make some kind of changes, they will very soon be mathematically out of any play-off hopes. Whether they change coaches, make a big trade to get a good CB or a big Center, or just simply make some real changes to the schemes. But something needs to change or they will have a hard time winning 8 games.
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