Lions Fans Often See what They Want to See

Human nature. It is human nature to survive. It is human nature to learn. It is the nature of learning that curses the fans of the Detroit Lions.

If a child touches matches and you ignore it, he will sooner or later burn himself. If you slap his hand when he touches them, once, twice or a dozen times (depending on how intelligent the kid is), he will learn not to touch those matches. When the Lions lose as often as the Lions have, the fans learn to expect it. When the Lions play bad football for as long as they have, the fans learn to focus on the bad football. I saw evidence of this since last Sunday's game against Pittsburgh.

Culpepper has not started a single regular season game this year. He comes in against the defending Superbowl Champs. Almost immediately in the game, he loses his star receiver Calvin Johnson to an injury. Let's face it, the guy was up against some pretty harsh circumstances for his first game since the preseason. Yet Culpepper threw for almost 300 yards, 62% completion, a TD and scrambled for two big first downs to keep drives going.

Daunte Culpepper did an admiral job under those circumstances and yet, throughout the week I have heard far more complaining than I have heard praises for the veteran quarterback. People want to point out his mistakes. That he had an interception and an intentional grounding called on him. It doesn't matter that the intentional grounding was nothing more than him trying to throw it away and would have been legal if he would have gotten the ball three more yards down field. The fans still say it was a stupid play. It doesn't matter that his interception came while he was scrambling for his life and he overthrew a wide open receiver. The fans want to say it was a stupid play on his part. Not a bad throw, but a stupid play. If he would have thrown the one another three plays, the fans would have said he did what he should have done. If he would have hit that receiver, the fans would have said it was a great play then forgot about it. We don't remember the good but we look for the bad.

The Lions got called for a personal foul for hitting the QB low. Replay showed it was an awful call by the refs. Rather than the Lions having the ball after an interception, the Steelers got it back plus a first down, plus an additional 15 yards. They scored a TD they should never have had. Take that away and the defending champions only scored 21 points against the Lions defense. Yet I have not heard anyone saying how well they played. I hear how the Lions could not tackle again.

Every team except for Jacksonville scored last weekend. How could that be? If other teams always played perfect, they would shut their opponents out. So how come even all of the great teams of the NFL were scored upon? How did Philadelphia give up 14 points to Tampa bay? How did Minnesota allow the lowly Rams to score 10 points? How is it the great New York Jets defense gave up 31 points? Could it be that maybe they don't play perfect every play? Could it be that they miss tackles sometimes and miss coverage sometimes?

The fact is, every defense, even the great ones will mess up sometimes. They all let teams score on them. The Steelers offense is no push over. They can run and they can pass. The Steelers are a very good team in the NFL and look how much they crushed the Lions by. Eight points! And seven of those came from a lousy call by the refs.

The Lions played a pretty good game Sunday against the defending Superbowl Champions. They played pretty darn good on offense and defense. Under the circumstances, Culpepper played very good. Far better I think than most of us thought he would in that situation.

Lions fans need to shed the losing mentality just as much as the team does. If they play really bad, the fans need to let them know it by screaming out about it. But when the Lions play a decent game, win or lose, the fans should acknowledge that as well. Last weeks loss aside, I saw a much improved Lions team on the field from what I saw last year. If they continue to improve, the fans will have a much brighter future ahead of them.

The Two Faces of Lions Fans

Many Detroit Lions fans will not like this article. I cannot help that but I will not allow it to keep me from writing it. I will write the truth as I see it and not let it be influenced by opinions. So let me start it if by going for the throat. Many of the Detroit Lions fans are two faced.

I have read articles on Stafford since the Lions first preseason game. I have read the posts by the fans after those articles. I have seen the love of those fans for Matthew Stafford. I have seen some striking similarities between Stafford and Harrington and the fans love one and hate the other for those same similarities.

Let me make this clear. I am not a huge Joey Harrington fan. I once was a supporter of his but now he is done in. I do believe Stafford can be a true star, just like I believed Joey could have under the right circumstances. Yet I hear fans saying things they love about Stafford and they are the same with Harrington who they hated.

Fans loved that Stafford took a hit and jumped back up with a smile, showing he is tough. I remember Joey Harrington's first season and he took a huge hit. He jumped up and patted the player who sacked him on the back of the helmet congratulating him on a good hit.

Stafford went 7 for 14 in his first action. That is only 50%. Fans think he did good because he had a few balls dropped to make his stats look worse than how he played. Yet I do not remember a quarterback on the Lions who had his passes dropped as often as Harrington did.

Both quarterbacks are tough players who can take a hit and bounce back up ready to play. Both players were/are looked at as the savior of the Detroit Lions. Neither player was ever considered a very accurate passer. Both quarterbacks have good size and neither is a scrambler.

The Detroit fans, loved Scott Mitchell when he was throwing for 4,000 yards and it was those same fans who ran him out of town saying he was a bum when the talent around him dropped off the table. It was those same Lions fans who loved Harrington when he took the reins and the same who hated Joey when he couldn't produce with the worst o-line, receivers, and scheme in the NFL. It is those same fans who now love and tout Stafford as the next coming.

As I said, I do believe that Stafford can be a star. I also believe he has a better chance than any of the others ever had for the Lions. He has a great receiver in Calvin Johnson. The best Joey ever had was Roy Williams who the Lions were glad to trade away. Stafford has a good tight end which Joey never had. Stafford has a receiver in Northcutt who will actually go across the middle. Something Joey never had.

If the Lions brass can improve the offensive line enough to protect Stafford as he grows into that star, he may be the best quarterback the Lions ever had. If they do not find a way to protect him however, Stafford faces turning into the next Harrington. If he becomes that star, there will be fans saying "I told you so", and if he fails? It will be those same fans who will chase him out of Detroit saying he is a bum.