Mike Martz, Other Lions' "Cat Offs," 49ers Kill Lions' Season

This was it Detroit. The San Francisco 49ers represented Detroit's last chance to salvage a season. Most teams at 0-2 still have a shot at the playoffs. After all, just last year, the New York Giants started 0-2 and won the Superbowl. Most years, at least one 0-2 team makes the playoffs.

The Lions have a bye next week. It sure looks better going into a rough stretch against Chicago and Minnesota when you're 1-2 instead of 0-3.

This was a winnable game for Detroit, just as Atlanta and Green Bay should have been.

Two of the 49ers most important team components were Lions off-casts. Think about that for a minute. When you're off-casts of what is undoubtedly the worst team in the NFL over the last seven years, you're about as low as you can sink.

If the Lions had any killer instinct at all, they would have dominated this 49ers team.

J.T. O'Sullivan was Jon Kitna's backup last season. Through two games this season, he has been sacked 12 times. That's 4 more times than even Jon Kitna. That means San Francisco's O-line had more holes in it than even Detroit's.

The Lions only managed one sack on O'Sullivan all day. Kitna meanwhile, was sacked four times.

Now, we know Detroit's defense is awful. I don't care if Millen says the defense plays great in practice. In practice they play against the Detroit offense, which is kind of like scoring higher than a three year old on the SAT.

Going into this game, the only stat that really mattered about the Detroit defense was that they fell behind 21-0 to Atlanta AND Green Bay.

The Lions today, again, made the opposing quarterback look like an all-pro. O'Sullivan finished with a 123.3 quarterback rating, and led the 49ers out to a 14-0 lead. This game was over after the 1st quarter though.

Again, the Lions forgot that the game starts in the 1st. They racked up one passing yard in that 1st quarter.

One passing yard. Read that until it sinks in. How does that happen? I mean, that must take effort. You'd think even a team of high schoolers could maybe, accidentally hit a receiver or two for a few yards.

The Lions wouldn't fall behind 21-0 in this game, thanks to the best player on the team: Jason Hanson. They would however, fall behind 21-3. Well, at least they're making progress. At this rate, they might be able to take a first half lead by 2012.

At one point, with San Francisco leading 21-6, they elected to kick a field goal inside Detroit's five-yard line. The 49ers fans began booing the team.

Oh, to be in such a fortunate posistion where you can boo your team when they're ahead by two touchdowns. They don't know how good they have it. The 49ers coaching staff listened though, and instead went for it on 4th down. They scored on an Allen Rossum reverse play to go ahead 28-6.

Rudi Johnson was the lone bright spot for Detroit. He might have the playbook down now, as evidenced by his 83 yards rushing and, perhaps embarrassingly, led the team in receiving yards with 48 and a touchdown.

Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams, the Lions duo of first round recievers, COMBINED for 58 yards and no touchdowns.

That proves, once again, that you can have as many high-profile receivers as you want. It doesn't matter if you don't have a good quarterback to throw to them, and a good offensive line to give that quarterback time to throw.

Here's what I just don't understand. With Kitna being as bad as he is, Detroit again didn't put in backup, Dan Orlovsky, until there was only minutes left in the game. I know Orlovsky isn't very good, but the game was out of reach when the 2nd half started.

Kitna finished with a measly 146 yards. You're telling me Orlovsky couldn't at least get some experience? What does Detroit gain by leaving Kitna in there? I'll tell you what they don't gain: the respect of the rest of the team.

I might be speculating a bit here, but this team has lost any heart it might have had at the beginning of the season. I think they lost any respect for Kitna after he walked off the field with his helmet off while Green Bay's Collins was still running into the end-zone.

Orlovsky wouldn't have brought an end to the Lions skid. (They've gone 1-11 in their last 12 games) but he would have given the team a spark.

At 0-3, this Lions team is done. Bury them. They aren't coming back. Take a look at the schedule. Three weeks ago it looked kind. Today, it doesn't look like Detroit is capable of winning another game. The most winnable game left on there is Houston. Of course, that's an away game, so take that for what you will.

What can Lions' fans hope for? That they tank the season for the No. 1 draft pick? What, so they can draft another wide receiver? That they miraculously pull out six or seven wins this season? What, so Matt Millen gets signed to a five year extension?

It's frustrating, It's mind-boggling.

How can a team, in a league that's designed to create parity, NEVER get better? Its not that the Lions don't have talent. They have plenty of talent. It might not even be that Rod Marinelli is a bad coach.

Teams are built from the top down. William Clay Ford has never spoke to the media concerning the team; he is not involved. Matt Millen lives in Philadelphia during the week. How can a general manger do anything to help his team if he's not even there?

Good players come to Detroit and become terrible. I submit to you Leigh Bodden, Bill Schroeder, Dre Bly, Tatum Bell, and so on. The draft choices in the Matt Millen era have been a complete and utter failure. Four wide receivers in five years?! Two of them, Charles Rogers and Mike Williams are not even in the NFL anymore. 

I don't have any answers for this team. Its a mess. They can change quarterbacks, and they should. Starting Drew Stanton after the bye week could give this team a spark, but its not going to help in the long run. They could fire Matt Millen, but William Clay Ford is still the owner of this team, and who's to say he won't hire someone just as incompetent?

For us Lions Die-Hards, there's not much to do except grit your teeth and suffer through it. Its what we do best.