Coming into this National Football League season, The Detroit Lions were most people’s “flavor of the month”. Last season The Lions ended their playoff drought which dated back to 1999. The Lions earned a Wild Card berth with a 10-6 record before losing to The New Orleans Saints in the first round of the playoffs. This season The Lions are currently 4-8 and the playoffs do not appear to be feasible. When The Lions are sitting at home during the playoffs after a disappointing regular season they will have to do some soul searching as their lack of discipline is really hindering the progress of this team. This season The Lions have already committed 85 penalties which is sixth in The NFL. Of Detroit’s eight losses this season, they blew a fourth quarter lead in four of those contests.
Lions head coach Jim Schwartz was hired in 2009 to change the culture surrounding the team after they finished 2008 with a record of 0-16. Schwartz and general manager Martin Mayhew have overhauled the roster with talented players, but this team lacks discipline on and off of the football field. Last summer cornerback Aaron Berry was released after being arrested twice within a month. Defensive tackle Nick Fairley recently had a second-degree marijuana charge dropped, but he has been arrested twice this year. Pro Bowl defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has built a reputation in The NFL of being a “dirty player”. Suh didn’t help his situation by allegedly kicking Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub in the groin on Thanksgiving Day. The NFL fined Suh $30,000 for the incident bringing his grand total to $243,000 in fines since he entered the league in 2010. Wide receiver Titus Young Sr. has been suspended indefinitely by The Lions for conduct detrimental to the team. All of these incidents fall at the feet of Schwartz.
Teams tend to take their cue from the head coach and Schwartz didn’t help the matter last season when he went after San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh after Schwartz wasn’t pleased in the manner that Harbaugh shook his hand following a 49ers overtime victory over The Lions in Week 6. The two had to be separated by the same players that they are expected to instill discipline in. In a Week 3 loss to The Tennessee Titans this season, Schwartz decided to go for the first down on a fourth-and-short situation in overtime with his team trailing by three points. A field goal would have tied the contest, but Lions backup quarterback Shaun Hill was stopped short and Detroit lost the game 44-41. On Thanksgiving Day, Texans running back Justin Forsett was not ruled down by the referees as he kept running for an 83-yard touchdown. All touchdowns are automatically reviewed by The NFL this year, but if a head coach throws his red challenge flag it results in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against his team. Schwartz threw the flag thus nullifying the replay which would have overturned the touchdown and once again The Lions lost. The teams that win in The NFL are the ones that have leadership and this team is lacking a leader. The Lions combo of quarterback Matthew Stafford and Pro Bowl wide receiver Calvin Johnson are in the process of re-writing all of the team’s passing and receiving records, but it won’t mean anything if this team is consistently playing second fiddle in The NFC North to The Green Bay Packers and The Chicago Bears. The Packers and Bears are consistently vying for the division title in The NFC North because they have leadership and they do the little things such as defeating the teams that they are expected to. Detroit is currently 3-5 this season against teams that do not have a winning record.
The Lions lack of a running game has hurt them and it has contributed to the team’s inability to close out games in the fourth quarter. The Lions are presently 21st in rushing as running back Mikel Leshoure’s 100-yard rushing performance against The Titans has been the only time this season that a Lions running back has made it to the century mark for rushing.
The final four games for The Lions will not see them getting a reprieve as they will face The Bears, Packers, and Atlanta Falcons in three of these contests. All three are potential playoff teams with The Falcons currently posting the best record in The National Football Conference. The Lions are now on pace for their tenth double-digit loss season since 2000. This is also the same franchise that has only won one playoff game since 1957. The Lions won last year, but it is even harder to win in The NFL when you are expected to win. That is where leadership comes into play as the leaders of a team will find a way to make everyone raise their game to another level for the cause of winning. The Lions are lacking that and until they find it they will continue to come up short in the victory column.
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