Detroit Lions Must Prove Their Worth on National Stage of Monday Night Football

It's been a long time coming, hasn't it?

Tell me, does anyone remember the last time the Lions played on Monday Night Football?

October 8, 2001, against St. Louis. The Rams won 35-0. For nine miserable years after that, including the infamous 0-16 season, the Detroit Lions faithful were hoping for a game like this. Now, finally, they have it.

The Lions earned respectability around the league for a number of reasons last season. First, they won their last four games of the year, two against playoff-bound teams. Second, and perhaps lost in all the success of this season, they handed out tickets to Monday Night Football for a Vikings game when the Metrodome collapsed. That's right, folks. They gave away tickets and housed a Monday Night Football game for a division rival. Sounds pretty cool to me.

The Lions are coming into this game 4-0, too. That could have something to do with it; however, the Lions must prove their worth on the national stage if they want to maintain that respectability.

Lions coach Jim Schwartz has publicly stated numerous times that the Lions haven't played their best football yet. Anyone who watched the last two games would agree. Sure, they won by coming back from 20 points down and 24 points down, respectively in their last two games, but that can only work for so long. The Lions have way too much talent to not be scoring points in the first half.

The Bears have a vaunted offense. They have two of Detroit's former coaches, Rod Marinelli and Mike Martz, a former player in wide receiver Roy Williams and a quarterback who only wishes he could get better protection from a depleted offensive line.

Matt Forte is a solid weapon out of the backfield, Johnny Knox is making a name for himself at wide receiver, and let's not forget about Devin Hester. There's plenty of weapons for Chicago, but also for Detroit.

If the Lions' big three—Calvin Johnson, Matt Stafford and Jahvid Best—maintain their continuity on offense, their defense can ride Ndamukong Suh's back and reek havoc for Jay Cutler. If they can also stop committing drive-killing penalties, the Lions will likely come away with a win on the national stage. That would be a huge morale boost for this team, and for the city as a whole.

The team says they're excited about playing on the national stage. Now it's up to them to prove they can handle it.