Lions Fans Experience the Thrill of Victory and Agony of Defeat

Victory and Defeat

John Fitzgerald Kennedy really nailed it when he said, "Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan."

In victory, people tend to be magnanimous about sharing the credit.

After a series of losses, and especially a bitter and disappointing set-back, some folks tend to look for scapegoats and demand that heads roll.

Losing unleashes a flood of doubt and despair among the timid and faithful alike.

It provides fodder for finger-pointing and second-guessing arm chair generals eager to justify their “I told you so” predictions and deprive Lions fans of hope when hope is about the only thing the people of Motown really have right now.

A brighter future for Detroiters begins with hope.

Hope that we can rebuild our schools, businesses and communities after suffering a devastating social and economic storm worse in its own way than Katrina; hope that we can revive our beloved sports franchises; and hope that after accomplishing all this, we can renew the proud Spirit of Detroit.

If we can’t do it, no once-great city in America can.

We can.

And we are.

Going from Giddy to Gloomy

Nothing quite buoys a Lions fan’s spirits like a 44-6 thumping of the Rams or a 37-25 win over the Redskins.

A number of close losses earlier in the season, while disappointing, actually gave fans a reason to believe that the Leos were none-the-less an improved team that was moving in the right direction and capable of being competitive.

Last Sunday’s 23-20 loss to the Jets, however, left many Detroit fans understandably angry, frustrated and gloomy, especially after Matt Stafford re-injured his shoulder and had to leave the game.

There is no prescription medication available that can help alleviate the win-loss bipolar mood swings Lions fans are suffering this season.

The most constructive thing we can do is enjoy the roller coaster ride and remember that the trip up that first hill is always slow and filled with anticipation, the view from the top is always great, and that nobody stays there forever.

And the only thing worse thing than being a football fan of a team in a city with a losing record is to live in a major city with no football team at all.

People who live in Las Vegas, Louisville or Omaha have no realistic hope of ever experiencing the thrill of victory and agony of defeat of their own NFL team.  

The Root of the Lions’ Problem

When your team gets blown out like the Seahawks and Cowboys did last Sunday, you can’t point to any one pivotal moment (or even a handful of them) to explain the defeat.

These kinds of losses are truly systemic in nature.

The Lions have not been blown-out of any game this season, and they’ve played some pretty damn good teams.

With all due respect to my esteemed and much-treasured Bleacher Report colleague Mike Sudds, Detroit’s losses cannot fairly be judged to be systemic.

The Lions losses have largely resulted from a combination of mistakes made by different individuals at different times during the heat of battle—missed tackles, blown assignments and stupid penalties.

Bad officiating and poor coaching decisions have at times also contributed to the Lions disappointing 2-6 record so far this season.

Are the Lions poorly coached?

No. Poor coaches fail to motivate, prepare and earn the respect of their teams. Their teams tend to get blown out in games. Their players simply give up at some point in a contest or season. They dodge responsibility for mistakes.

Have the Lions been out-coached at times this year?

Yes. There have been times when Jim Schwartz & Co. have been too conservative, too predictable and unimaginative. The clock management mistake near the end of the Jets game was just short of unforgivable.

The real problem with the pace of the Lions progress is that they are good enough to be competitive but not yet good enough to routinely overcome the mistakes that every team in the NFL makes.

The Raiders beat a very solid Kansas City team last Sunday despite 15 penalties and three turnovers, for their third straight win. As of now, the coefficient of victory for the Lions is razor thin. They have to be near-perfect to win against good teams.

So the Lions are good enough to be competitive, but not quite good enough yet to overcome more than an average number of mistakes. It’s a tough place for a team and its fans to be.

Expectations are high, especially given the sad history of the Lions before Schwartz and Mayhew. We’re not quite there yet. But hope is still alive among some of us, even with Stafford’s supposedly “glass shoulder.”

However, some patience is still required.

At a time like this, it's good to remember that quitters never win.

It’s better to light one candle than curse the darkness.