Detroit Lions: 7 Biggest Implications Coming off Loss to Chicago Bears

So, that didn't quite go as planned.

The Lions are skidding after losing three of four, and the Bears are surging, having won four games against some pretty strong teams.

In short, the Bears look like the team that dismantled the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1, and the result was the first real beat-down Lions fans have had to endure in a long while.

This is a better Bears team than the one that took the field at any point last year, and their recent consistency is beginning to slash away at my one major criticism of the team.

Worse yet, the Bears are 6-3, having already played the Packers and Saints once.

Starting to get a feel for how important this game was to the Lions?

There are some big things that happened this weekend regarding the Lions' playoff prospects, but none bigger than this.

Still, let's try to observe the situation like rational sports fans, not doomsayers. This is still a 6-3 team, even if they haven't looked much like it. So, here's the good and bad news after Week 10.

The Bears and Lions Are Tied...in Theory

It's an overstep of sorts to say this, but the Lions would have come very, very close to moving ahead of the Bears in the playoff picture for good with a win last weekend.

This game was the difference between a two-game lead and tiebreaker (effectively a three-game lead) with seven games left and a deadlock.

Technically, the Lions hold a slight edge, despite identical records and a 1-1 record head-to-head. The Lions are 2-1 in the division, where the Bears are 2-2. That is basically the difference in the Bears playing the Packers and the Lions not, with both teams owning a win over the Vikings.

The problem here is that the Lions have their toughest stretch ahead of them, and the Bears, by comparison, have some weaker matchups (read: the entire AFC West).

Thanksgiving Is the New Most Important Game

I doubt the Lions were planning to wave the white flag at the Green Bay Packers anyway, but beating them now means a whole lot more than just pride.

The Chicago Bears look like one of the most likely candidates to compete with the Lions for a wild card spot at this point, and in competing with one another, the most important thing to both teams, aside from overall record, is division record. That is to say, divisional record will be the first tiebreaker between the two.

The Bears have two divisional games left. They play the Packers and Vikings on the road to close out the season. That's a rough stretch, but a safe assumption is a loss at Lambeau Field and a win at the Metrodome.

If that's the case (and it's not set in stone, but go with me here), the Bears will finish with a 3-3 divisional record: two wins over the Vikings, two losses to the Pack and 1-1 against the Lions.

Now, let's look at Detroit's remaining division schedule: home against Green Bay (Thanksgiving), home against Minnesota, then at Lambeau to finish the season.

Assuming a win against Minnesota (which, again, is dangerous), and two losses against Green Bay, the Lions would have the same 3-3 divisional record as the Bears.

There are two answers to this problem. Either the Bears lose to Minnesota, or the Lions beat the Pack at least once.

And, if you had to pick a game for the Lions to beat the Packers, even with the longest odds, would it be Thanksgiving at home or New Year's Day at Lambeau Field?

Exactly.

Beat Atlanta!

Let's get off the subject of the Bears, but stay on the topic of tiebreakers.

Which is the only team in the NFC wild card picture with a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Lions? That would be the Atlanta Falcons, in striking distance, a game back at 5-4.

The Dallas Cowboys are also 5-4, but they lost to the Lions, so they're effectively two games back (or a game-and-a half or however you want to think about it).

Lions fans have been waiting for years to just be included in this kind of talk in November/December, so now's the time. Part of being in the playoff picture late in the season is knowing who you need to lose.

There is lots of time left for a 3-6 team to make a charge, and the Tampa Bay Bucs are in the neighborhood at 4-5. But right now, public enemies No. 1, 2, and 3 are the Bears, Falcons and Cowboys, respectively.

Watch the score ticker on Sunday and cheer/jeer accordingly.

The NFC North Is the Toughest Division in Football

If the season ended today, three NFC North teams would make the playoffs.

The other has Adrian Peterson and Jared Allen.

Props to the AFC North, which would have the Ravens, Steelers and Bengals in the playoffs right now, but where the AFCN has the 7-3 Steelers leading the division, the NFCN has the 9-0 Packers.

The Lions and Bears are both 6-3, which is good enough to lead three divisions, and within a half-game of three others (the Patriots, Steelers and Saints all lead their divisions at 7-3, and the Lions and Bears are both playing sub-.500 teams next weekend).

And, for all the talk of the leading teams, the Vikings can't be counted out, with two of the most dominant individual players in football leading the charge on each side of the ball.

This doesn't have much to do with the playoff picture, but it's worth noting.

Matthew Stafford Is Still Playing

Yeah, he's a little banged up, but I'm a little surprised that nobody is talking about how Matthew Stafford has played 9 games straight and is on track for his 10th.

For those keeping score, that will be tied for the most games he's played in a season in his professional career.

More importantly, Stafford made it out of Soldier Field without suffering a debilitating injury for the first time in his career.

Soldier Field has been a minefield for Stafford the last two years, and even though he played maybe the worst game of his career there, he came out of it healthy.

Stafford surely has some kinks to work out, in both the short and the long-term, but he's still working them out on the field, and the biggest circle on the "possible injury" calendar is behind him. That has to be encouraging.

If the Lions Make the Playoffs, They Will Have Earned It the Hard Way

If the Lions are able to squeak into the playoffs this year, there won't be anyone who can doubt that they earned their spot.

There will be no talk of feasting on a weak division, a weak schedule or that they backed in. Wild card spots are a dogfight right now, and the Lions' hot start is a memory.

The Lions have four games remaining against current division leaders. Three of those games are on the road (the other is the Packers on Thanksgiving).

The other three? Carolina, San Diego and Minnesota. All winnable games, all at home, but no assured victories, especially if the Lions can't peel themselves off the wall they seem to have hit.

And, even if the Lions are able to win those three games, they'll finish the season with a 9-7 record, which doesn't look like it'll be enough to earn a playoff berth. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 10-6 team left out in the cold again this year.

That means the Lions are going to have to play and beat good teams to make the playoffs. There will be no riding a three-game losing streak into January for this team.

The Stretch Run Is on the Coaching Staff

For several games now, the Lions have showed signs on the field of getting outcoached.

At one point, the Lions couldn't lose, and Schwartz was the master of the halftime adjustment.

Last Sunday, he got out-adjusted. Lovie Smith's Bears ran roughshod over the Lions, and in many ways, it was worse in the second half than it was in the first.

It's worth noting that the defense played extremely well throughout this game, but that didn't matter much because the Bears' defense outscored the Lions' offense.

Maybe this is more Scott Linehan, and maybe it's just the players' lack of execution out on the field. But, in the Lions' three losses, opponents seem to have gotten their number (especially on offense), and the Lions have been forced out of their game plan.

For illustration, anybody who thinks the Lions' game plan was for Matthew Stafford to throw 63 passes last week needs to see a psychiatrist.

We're at the point in the season where coaches really shine (or not). It's time to work around major injuries, and adjust parts of the game plan that aren't working.

There is enough game film on hand to know what teams are and aren't doing well, and where there will be weaknesses to exploit. And, similarly, coaches know that their opponents have that information, so there is a certain amount of gamesmanship in game planning for what you expect the other team to game plan for.

Schwartz and Co. have to know, especially after this whipping, that other teams are starting to get the Lions figured out. The game plan template to beat them has been laid out.

Now we get to see what he's going to do about it.