Biggest Takeaways from Detroit Lions' Week 4 Loss

It's too early to give up on the Detroit Lions' season. If we learned anything from their 13-10 Monday night loss to the Seattle Seahawks, it's that Detroit can find a way to do the seemingly impossible.

How else can you describe an ending where the league's highest-paid wide receiver gets to the half-yard line before fumbling into the end zone, snatching defeat from Seattle in the most unprecedented of manners?

To drive the likelihood into even more remote territory, the play shouldn't have stood. When the Seahawks' linebacker intentionally batted the ball out of the end zone, a flag should have been thrown, and Detroit should have received the ball at the one.

Alas, the unlikely has become the norm for Detroit.

Teryl Austin Is Heating Up

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

This loss will burn a little deeper not only for the unbelievable finish, but because the defense made this game entirely winnable.

Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin built on last week's performance with another top-notch game plan. The defensive back blitzes were especially effective, and Austin went back to the well whenever a big play was needed.

Even as the defense kept losing contributors (i.e. Haloti Ngata and Tyrunn Walker), players kept stepping up when needed, with Caraun Reid's touchdown rumble pulling the Lions within three points with over eight minutes left.

Mind you, that touchdown doubled the offense's output for the game.

And that was the second Russell Wilson fumble Detroit recovered. Seattle's offensive line lived down to its billing as the Lions racked up six sacks and kept the heat on Wilson all night.

It's unfortunate that this effort was wasted because Austin and his crew played well enough to win.

Untimely Penalties Continue to Kill Momentum

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The offense had moments of success where it seemed the unit was starting to find its flow against a tough Seattle defense.

Then an offensive lineman would take aim at the team's collective foot and drop a bomb in the form of a little yellow flag.

There was Riley Rieff's inexplicable penalty for making contact with a player on the ground. That particular offense (pun intended) wiped out a positive play and and set the Lions back 15 yards, effectively killing the drive.

Reiff wasn't alone, though. Travis Swanson earned a costly holding penalty that reversed a Zach Zenner run. The Lions went from 3rd-and-inches to 2nd-and-impossible.

Yet another first down was erased by an illegal-hands-to-the-face penalty. That's three drives killed by an offensive line that actually protected quarterback Matthew Stafford reasonably well. Go figure.

The improvement on passing downs (just three quarterback hits and zero sacks allowed) was impressive, but ultimately it meant nothing. Stalled drives are stalled drives, no matter the cause.

Zach Zenner Looked Legitimate

Matt Hazlett/Getty Images

Zach Zenner hadn't seen much action leading up to Monday's game. And he didn't see more than a few carries (one was disallowed by a penalty) in Seattle, leading to only nine rushing yards.

Yet we saw everything we needed to from the undrafted free agent.

There he was engaging a blitzer and giving Matthew Stafford time to find the open receiver. On another play, he kept his legs churning, picking up three yards despite instant impact at the line of scrimmage to set up the fateful 3rd-and-1.

Head coach Jim Caldwell will stick to the party line that this season isn't over. And he should. The team needs strong leadership now to somehow stay engaged for the next 12 games, although the odds will never be in their favor in 2015.

However, Caldwell must embrace the future and let Zenner get as much work as possible over the next three months. He's proven to be more effective than Joique Bell, regardless of whether the latter is healthy or not, meaning Detroit needs to get a better look at the younger, cheaper Zenner.

Offense Refuses to Take off the Governor

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

It turns out that Detroit's offense isn't bad. That description would be too kind for Joe Lombardi's unit.

The Lions entered Monday night averaging a putrid 305 yards per game. Somehow, Detroit fell 49 yards short of that mark against Seattle, and that's only because of the final drive.

As Josh Katzenstein of the Detroit News pointed out on Twitter, Matthew Stafford was 18-of-29 for 130 yards before the last offensive push. Remember, his starting wide receivers are Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate on the outside.

These pathetic totals have been the product of Detroit's dink-and-dunk approach. Lombardi has neutered his quarterback and playmakers by forcing them to work with screens, hooks and quick outs instead of challenging the middle of the field 10 to 20 yards downfield.

And let's not get started on the deep passing game. Yes, Stafford missed on two such throws against the Seahawks, but Johnson should not average eight yards a catch, as he did Monday night.

Lombardi has a car that's capable of flying around the track. However, he seems content to keep the engine throttled back, with little to no explanation for his reluctance to open it up.

Injuries Could Kill Any Comeback Hopes

Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Kudos to the few of you holding out hope that Detroit can turn it all around. Perhaps all of those gut-punch losses over the years have conditioned you to remain positive in the worst of situations.

But this season is a lost cause.

Aside from the issues explained in the prior slides, the injury bug has finally taken too big a bite to overcome.

Starting defensive tackles Haloti Ngata and Tyrunn Walker both left Monday's game. Early reports indicate Ngata is "optimistic about the long-term outlook," but Walker is most likely done for the season, as Coach Caldwell referred to his injury as "significant," per Justin Rogers of Mlive Media Group.

Throw in Eric Ebron's new knee issue, DeAndre Levy's lingering hip injury and Larry Warford's ankle, and it's clear this team doesn't have the horses to finish the race. Not that it had much of a chance to begin with.

Brandon Alisoglu is a Detroit Lions Featured Columnist who has written about the Lions on multiple sites. He also co-hosts a Lions-centric podcast, Lions Central Radio. Yell at him on Twitter about how wrong he is @BrandonAlisoglu.