LIONS 101

Briefly, there was some hope for the Detroit Lions in the national power rankings, but after Monday night's tough loss to the Chicago Bears, things are heading back in the wrong direction. The Lions slip back into the 20's, and are the recipient of more harsh criticism regarding their anemic offense prior to Sunday's return home.

Here's more from the media's scorecard this week:

ESPN: 19th. Last Week: 19th. Dan Graziano doesn't move the Lions around at all this week, and brings up a statistical anomaly. Of the 133 points the Lions have scored, 83 have come in the forth quarter or later. Graziano's right. It's tough to win like that. The Lions badly need to get off to better starts if they want to salvage 2012.

CBS Sports: 20th. Last Week: 22nd. Shockingly, the Lions move up on Pete Prisco's ballot despite losing to Chicago on Monday night and also despite Prisco's lecture for their offense. He's right, though. What has happened to Detroit's once-explosive offense? Perhaps they can rekindle the flame this week coming home against Seattle.

Fox Sports: 18th. Last Week: 17th. Brian Billick praises one positive from Monday's loss—the play of Detroit's makeshift secondary, which held up surprisingly well. Billick points out that Calvin Johnson only had 34 receiving yards. That's not enough, and Matthew Stafford must work harder to get him back into the games.

Pro Football Talk: 24th. Last Week: 22nd. Mike Florio is funny and right this when, when he moves the Lions down and laughs at their excuse of constantly having defensive backs injured. Yes, that excuse has been printed on a card and laminated in Detroit, but it's not a recent phenomenon. That's been happening for decades in this town, Mike.

Sports Illustrated: 25th. Last Week: 22nd. Don Banks isn't kind this week, moving the Lions down three whole spots. He says its a good thing the Detroit Tigers have made the World Series, because that's taking some of the heat off the Lions' terrible start. He's also right in saying Stafford is making bad decisions this week, and correct in the assumption things could get worse with Seattle's secondary coming to town. Detroit must win that battle if they hope to grab their third win of this season.

The Roundup

Highest Ranking: 18th

Lowest Ranking: 25th

Their Overall Consensus? The Lions took a definite step back this week with Monday's pathetic offensive performance against Chicago. Though the defense, and specifically the secondary, performed well, the offense is still missing in action. Stafford and Johnson need to get back into the act earlier in games, but that might be tough duty with the Seahawks coming to town.

Tags: Calvin Johnson, Detroit, Detroit Lions, Football, Matthew Stafford, NFL

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