Don't Underestimate the Detroit Lions and Drew Stanton vs. the Chicago Bears

The stage has been set. From here on out, the Bears can’t afford to lose a game if they expect to claim the NFC North title. The Lions have nothing left to lose. It’s a matchup made in hell for Da Bears.

Some Chicago fans are loath to admit it, but they know deep down that in the eyes of the sports world, they lost to the Lions during the season opener.

It was only because of a muddy interpretation of an obscure NFL rule that Calvin Johnson was robbed of a touchdown, allowing the historical record to forever indicate that Chicago won that game. 

As Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News put it, “Johnson caught the pass from Shaun Hill, took another step or two, fell to the ground, waved to his family, updated his Twitter account and then left the ball on the turf.”

This Sunday the Bears will try to prove that they really are a better team than the Lions. And the Lions will attempt to prove them wrong.

Forget the Stats

On second thought, let’s have a quick look at some statistical comparisons between the Bears and Lions:

Offensive Category	Lions	Bears
Total Offense Ranking	15	28
Passing Rank	6	26
Passing TDs	20	16
QB Sacks Allowed	20	41
Rushing Rank	28	21
Rushing TDs	7	5
Yards per Carry	3.6	3.8

Defensive Category	Lions	Bears
Total Defense Ranking	21	4
Pass Defense Ranking	18	16
Run Defense Ranking	24	2
Interceptions	9	16
Sacks	28	23

While these stats indicate that the Bears have a formidable defense, they don’t fully illuminate why Chicago is 8-3 going into Sunday’s game while the Lions are 2-9. Part of the answer can be explained by the competition both teams have faced this season.

Five of the teams the Lions have lost to this year (Bears, Eagles, Packers, Jets, and Patriots) are now either in first place or tied for first place in their divisions.

Detroit’s opponents have a combined 66-55 win-loss record. Six of the 11 teams that Detroit has played this year are 7-4 or better, and two of them are 9-2.

By contrast, Chicago’s opponents have a combined 49-72 win-loss record. Only three teams the Bears have faced so far have 7-4 records and none have more than seven wins.

This is a winnable game for the Lions.

Revenge of the Third?

After being penalized for roughing the passer earlier in their first matchup of the year, Julius Peppers took Matthew Stafford out with a clean hit with less than a minute left to play in the first quarter. Stafford was diagnosed with a separated shoulder.

Shaun Hill stepped in to replace Stafford. It was Hill who marched the Lions down the field in the fourth quarter and threw the non-touchdown pass to Johnson with 24 seconds left in the game.

Hill played admirably during the next five weeks, leading the Lions to an impressive win over the Rams along the way. During the next game against the Giants, Hill suffered a broken left arm.

After the Lions’ bye week, Matt Stafford returned and secured a win over the Redskins. During the following game against the Jets, Stafford suffered a second shoulder separation.

Hill returned as the Lions’ starter with a cast on his non-throwing arm for the next three games until he broke the index finger on his throwing hand against the Patriots.

Which bring us to Drew Stanton

Stanton was a 2007 early second-round draft pick for the Lions when Rod Marinelli was the head coach and Mike Martz ran the offense. Martz immediately set out to deconstruct and rebuild Stanton’s mechanics.

Stanton suffered a series of injuries that further set his progress back.

After suffering a knee injury during training camp in 2007, he was placed on injured reserve for the rest of the year to clear roster space for J.T. O’Sullivan, who was just signed by Raiders this week to be their third-string quarterback.

In 2008 Stanton suffered a thumb sprain of the hand on his throwing arm that sidelined him during the rest of preseason. In 2009 Stanton played behind both Stafford and Daunte Culpepper, who was brought out of retirement in November 2008 to back up Jon Kitna.

In 10 games with the Lions, Stanton has completed 52.9 percent of his passes, thrown two touchdowns and seven interceptions, and run the ball for one score.

Stanton has one start. It came in Week 16 last year against San Francisco in Candlestick Park and wasn’t pretty in a 20-6 loss.

Given his limited experience with the Lions’ starting offense and the situations he’s found himself in when he played, it’s shouldn’t come as a surprise that Stanton has thrown so many interceptions.

However, Stanton has yet to run out of the back of the end zone.

In college as a starter for Michigan State, Stanton’s completion percentage was 64 percent and he had a 42-to-28 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He can get the job done.

It’s probably safe to say that Stanton, who has played under three different offensive coordinators in four years for the Lions, hasn’t really had a chance to develop his potential and demonstrate what he’s capable of in the NFL.

Stanton will get another chance to do just that this Sunday when he’ll be the Lions starting quarterback against the Bears.

Stanton has stated during interviews this week that he respects Marinelli (now the defensive coordinator for the Bears) and won’t be motivated on Sunday by trying to prove that Martz (now the offensive coordinator for Chicago) was wrong about him.

Still, if Drew Stanton manages to guide Detroit to a win this week and a Calvin Johnson touchdown is the deciding factor, it will be sweet revenge, at least for Detroit fans.

Is the game worth watching?

You bet.

No game for the Lions this year—perennial NFL underdogs—has depended more on the performance of a man pretty much everyone has written off: Mr. Underdog himself, Drew Stanton.

If the Lions win in front of a packed house at Ford Field today, it will be because Stanton believed in himself despite a long string of misfortunes, and the rest of the team did too.

Everyone expects Detroit to lose this game, but if Stanton and the never-give-up Lions manage to pull off a win, the wind in Chicago on this early December weekend will be a lot colder.

But it will be the Lions that sent a real chill up the spines of Chicago fans.