Detroit Lions Notch a Good Loss in New Orleans

Everyone just calm down.

I’ve heard a whole lot of comparisons to the 2008 Detroit Lions after Sunday’s 45-27 trampling at the hands of  the New Orleans Saints.

It’s understandable; they did lose by 18 points, and they are the 2009 Lions. It’s natural to compare them to last year’s version.

As I remember, though, the 2008 Lions lost to roughly the same Saints 42-7, and that was without an injury to their top cornerback against the league’s most prolific passer.

So let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first.

Yes, the Lions lost. Yes, it was an 18-point loss, and their 18th-straight loss. Yes, they became the first modern-era team to have a losing streak spanning three seasons. No, they didn’t even cover a double-digit spread (13).

Yes, Drew Brees threw six touchdown passes and a second-string running back had a career day. Yes, Matthew Stafford had a bad day, showing his inability to finish drives and a propensity to throw interceptions at the worst possible time (two of his picks were caught inside the 20-yard line).

Kevin Smith was shut down and Calvin Johnson had only three catches, though one was for what should have been a long touchdown.

Heard enough? Good. I know the Lions lost big, and in many ways it looked very bad. Now let me follow that up with two very important words:

So what?

That’s right, I don’t care. Anybody who expected to open the season in New Orleans with a big, statement-making win needs to start up a support group with Joey “Blue Skies” Harrington, Jon “10 Wins” Kitna, and Kevin “20 Touchdowns” Smith.

Temper your expectations, people. If you didn’t believe it before, believe it now. We are not looking at a playoff team. Deal with that. The Lions are going to lose a lot of games this season, and the Saints are one of the toughest games on the schedule, so what’s the problem?

Now, having said that, with as bad as it looked, it wasn’t as bad as it looked.

See, despite the final score, the game wasn’t a blowout. At no point did the Saints pull their starters and start beating down the Lions with second-string players. In fact, it was still a reasonably winnable game (though a long shot) until Stafford’s third interception.

Though they never led, the Lions never trailed by more than the 18 points they lost by. In fact, after falling behind by 14 points early on, they battled back to within four points early in the second quarter.

At any given point, the Lions were one missed opportunity away from making it a much closer game.

Much of that has to do with Stafford. The interceptions he threw were momentum-killers, and he was unable to get touchdowns instead of turnovers or field goals.

But he’s a rookie quarterback, and he’s making rookie quarterback mistakes. This is his first real game against NFL competition, and therefore the first in which he must realize that his gifted right arm is not enough to carry him to success without  good decision-making.

His problems and mistakes are coachable, and he will learn, but expecting him to know it before he steps foot on the field is unrealistic. These are games Stafford has to have before he learns what throws he can make at this level and how.

For that matter, these are games the entire Lions team has to have.

They fought hard, but at the end of the day, they were outgunned. The Saints are a team thinking playoffs, and the Lions are looking to snap an 18-game skid.

I’m not going to say this is a moral victory, because I don’t believe in moral victories. For a team that hasn’t won a game in almost two years, the only moral victory this season will be the numeral “one” on the left side of a hyphen.

That being said, as losses go, this one could have been worse. The Lions were supposed to lose this game, and they did, but they didn’t perform below any reasonable set of expectations.

They will get better, visibly, as the season goes on. More than half of this year’s 53-man roster was not on last year’s 53-man roster, so chemistry is a major issue.

And hey, the Lions have all kinds of issues, all over the field. We know this, but don’t throw them under the bus yet.

The only question right now is whether the Lions are playing better than last year, and if they’re headed in the right direction.

After one game, the answers to both questions are yes. It’s unusual to say that after a 18-point loss, but this is a team under unusual circumstances, who lost to the same team by 35 points last season.

So everyone calm down and enjoy the show. Start a pool at the office for the Lions’ first win. Smile politely at the guy who picks “2010.”  But don’t be that guy, don’t throw your hands up in September.

This ride is only beginning, and it will get better soon.