Detroit Lions: Biggest Holes to Fill in Offseason Are Between the Ears

There are many opportunities for improvement for the 2012 Detroit Lions, but the most pressing holes to fill this offseason may simply be the ones between the ears.

This year's season began the same way last year's ended—in victory. Last year, the Lions finished the season with four consecutive victories. Two of those victories were in the Sunshine State, where the Lions upended Tampa Bay and Miami in consecutive weeks.

This year, they went back down to Tampa and repeated the feat, but not before continuing another trend—dumb penalties.

With the game in hand and needing to simply run out the clock, Gosder Cherilus took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that forced the Lions to punt the ball and play defense to secure the win.

No big deal, right? They won.

Wrong. The trend is a disturbing one that will keep this team from reaching its collective potential.

A Baffling Series of Penalties

Last year, the Lions ranked second in penalties with 136—behind only the infamously penalized Oakland Raiders. This year, they are again second in the NFL, with 97 penalties for 771 yards.

On Sunday night, they were penalized 11 times for over 100 yards. The true penalty, though, was much greater.

Those 11 penalties negated 120 positive yards. That's over 220 yards total—or more than two football fields of miscues. The Lions were good enough to compete with New Orleans and (dare I say it) beat the Saints, if not for the mental meltdowns.

Nate Burleson, by himself, had three offensive pass interference penalties. The last time that happened was 1971, and that was the entire Baltimore Colts offense, not one wide receiver!

Penalties are going to happen, but the nature of the recent flags and the timing is what’s really disheartening.

Titus Young's zebra reach-around was after the Lions got the ball down to the four yard line and took potentially four points off the board. Pettigrew slapped the referee and killed a drive that could have tied the game. Stefan Logan’s ball flip put the offense back inside the 20 to start the fourth quarter.

How does one team reach around a referee for a 15-yard penalty and slap another referee in the same game? It’s more baffling to me than ships in glass bottles.

Of course, let's not forget the ultimate display of composure on Thanksgiving. Suh's dribbling of Evan Dietrich-Smith’s helmet and attempted tenderizing of his arm gave Green Bay four more points, deflated the team (and fans) and sent Ndamukong home for a two-week hiatus that has begun with a forgettable "Dream Cruise" down Third Avenue in Portland.

How do we make sense of this team going Plaxico and shooting itself in the leg? In a word, youth. In Dominic Raiola terms: Grow the f*#% up.

Young Players with Growing Pains

This team has made tremendous strides in improving the overall talent, but the talent is green. Frustration will manifest itself as outward displays of stupidity much more quickly with young players than with seasoned veterans.

Young, Pettigrew, Logan and Suh all have no more than two full seasons under their belts and have been forced into prominent roles on this team because of the lack of talent that preceded them.

Hell, the ground attack was supposed to be on the shoulders of rookie Mikel Leshoure, if things went according to plan.

The fact is, growing pains associated with young players are a necessary evil. Most teams can hide those flaws by sprinkling young players amongst veterans. The Lions do not have that luxury. The young talent is going to have to grow up in the spotlight, similar to what Michael Jackson had to do.

As with the gloved one, the faults of the young cannot entirely be laid at their feet. Just as Joe Jackson needed to accept responsibility for some of the shortcomings of his uber-successful son, so Jim Schwartz should acknowledge his part in excessive maize laundry.

Schwartz is very familiar with overcoming penalties. During his last season as defensive coordinator with the Titans, Tennessee ranked fourth in penalties with 108, and third in yardage with 855 yards.

This week, Schwartz again reiterated how he stands behind his players from the snap of the ball to the whistle, but nothing after. That's funny. This is coming from the same guy who chased Jim Harbaugh in a fit of rage after the San Francisco coach dropped an "F-bomb" on the Lions' head coach.

I still like the fact that Schwartz would not be disrespected in his own stadium. I'm sure the juices were flowing—it was the first game the Lions had lost in over 300 days—but you can't have it both ways. If you overreact after the whistle, how can you expect your players to not do the same?

It's like the old anti-drugs commercial where the father is yelling at his son, "Where did you learn to do this?" The son replies, "From you, Dad. I learned it from you."

Schwartz deserves a massive amount of credit for changing the culture in Allen Park, but he is young himself. This is only his third year as a head coach. The transition from coordinator to top dog (or cat in this instance) can be difficult. The emotions that made you successful as an DC must, at times, be harnessed to offer a sense of stability to everybody on the sidelines.

While Schwartz and his players are learning to control their emotions, fans will have to live with the imperfections.

Just a Matter of Time

The 5-0 start was impressive. The Lions' record-setting three comebacks of 17 points or more confirms that there is enough talent on this team to win. But with the 2-5 skid in the past seven contests, the psyche of this young team is more fragile than the infamous leg lamp won by Ralphie's father in A Christmas Story.

Furthermore, if they’re not careful, this team could end up in shambles analogous to the attempted repair of the old man’s “major award.”

Will the Lions get a reprieve from their midseason pettiness and one-upmanship and play on into the month of January? Or will Taps be played come New Year’s Day for the Lions?

Either way, I’m certain Martin Mayhew has already begun his wish list. It’s just a matter of time before he begins its implementation.

Yes, the Lions will probably make some moves to improve the offensive line in the offseason. Yes, they would like to add a couple upgrades in the defensive secondary—but so would the other 31 teams.

Truth be told, the core of success is already wearing Honolulu blue and silver. The real improvements that need to be made for the final push this year and next season are within the headgear of the players and the head coach who leads them.