What Detroit must do against Chicago

By Os Davis  |   Wednesday, October 24, 2007  |  Comments( 3 )

Detroit Lions
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Just like that, the Detroit Lions are back on track - and boy, does it feel surreal to write that. With their 23-16 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Lions are right back in the thick of things.

(Well, sort of: Rod Marinelli & Co. dug themselves a bit of a hole with that Week 5 loss at Washington, but more on this later.)

In fact, at 4-2 and nearing the halfway mark, whispers of Detroit getting into the playoffs for the first time in the Matt Millen era can be heard. "The NFC is weak," they insist. "One surprise team (other than the Lions, presumably) drops off and Detroit is there."

All right, then. With a little brainstorming, this writer managed to come up with a list of items the Lions must do to make the playoffs this season:

Beat the Bears in Chicago this weekend; and...

And, well, that's about it, really. The truth is that the Lions simply cannot look beyond this Sunday, and lo, does one of modern athletics' most golden of gold clichés actually activate.

Perhaps it's best that the Detroiters don't flip the pages on the calendar: Upcoming games feature the Denver Broncos, New York Giants, Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys (all within the confines of Ford Field, but still). Late in the season, the Lions travel to San Diego for the Chargers and close in Lambeau. A scary slate there.

Figuring two teams in the East - pick your quinella of Dallas, New York and Washington - are in the running, Detroit may need Jon Kitna's goofy preseason prediction to come true, with 11 Lion wins necessary to sneak into the playoffs. As the Kitties lost thoroughly, 34-3, to Washington before the bye week, a loss to the Giants in Week 11 would probably eliminate them from contention should tiebreakers be involved.

Besides, we're taking this one week at a time. As in, Detroit must win at Chicago. The Bears win this thing and they've crawled and clawed their way back up to 4-4, a half-game back of the Lions and the series between the two split. Chicago appears to have an even more difficult schedule remaining than Detroit, but these guys are the defending conference champions.

To bust out another moldy oldie, "The past is the past. We're thinking about next week." In all likelihood, a 34-point, one-quarter barrage won't be forthcoming and Detroit is rapidly reportedly using up its alloted quota of miracles, the Lions probably can't glean too much from the earlier win against the Bears.

Gotta take this one week at a time, after all. The question, then, becomes: What do the Lions need in Week 8?

How about ...

The running game must be as successful as in Week 7. Stats aside, Kevin Jones is a nice comeback story. After suffering the dreaded Lisfranc fracture late in the 2006 season, early Chickens Little had Jones out until possibly 2008; heck, even in August, mainstream media had Jones missing six games thanks to the injury. Time travel back to Sunday for a look at a guy who appeared to have hardly missed a beat from his rookie year of 2004, the last season Jones was healthy throughout: 15 carries for 76 yards and a TD, plus six grabs for another 46. Could Jones be the quasi-Marshall Faulk the Mike Martz system demands?

The breaks must go their way. Truth is, Jeff Garcia doesn't most egregiously fumble at the 2-yard line in the fourth, it's a completely different ballgame. Heck, the Lions were outdone in possession time nearly 36 minutes to 24; Garcia went 37-of-45 for 316 yards and two TDs; Kitna and Mike Martz's game plan reverted to early 2006; and overall, the Buccaneers killed in overall yardage 422-278. Plus, the Lions made a one-Sunday superstar (191 total yards and open all day on screens and short routes) out of ... Earnest Graham.

The difference in the game? Mainly, those two annoying fumbles. Let's not call it luck; let's just say that Motor City fans are praying Brian Griese is so generous. And speaking of Chicago's latest savior, the Lions also need...

Griese to become derailed. Griese may not be as athletically talented as father Bob, but tell you what: More and more, he's looking near Senior's level in smarts. No timeouts and ol' Spaghetti Arm manages to march his team 97 yards downfield without high-tech communications? That might be difficult against 11 statues.

Additionally, Griese is one of the post-Brady breed of NFL QBs, those designed to pick apart the Cover 2 defense. Against such a formation, high accuracy can make arm strength irrelevant. With Bernard Berrian, Muhsin Muhammad, Desmond Clark and Devin Hester all looking better under Griese's guidance, the Bears can now throw the ball.

The offensive line must improve. Ah, no one in Detroit or anywhere else is listening to my well-worn rants on this one, so not too much detail here. After allowing "only" three sacks in the Tampa Bay game, the Lion 'O' is now on pace to give up 83 this season. "Today," said starting left guard/offseason acquisition Edwin Mulitalo in the post-game, "it was an exciting time to be an offensive lineman."

What's more "exciting"? Being a quarterback on the run from a gnarly, angry Chicago Bears defense, for one...

Welcome to the must-win game, Detroit Lions. Best of luck to you.

Awaiting the Detroit Lions dynasty all year-round at RealFootball365.com.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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