Inconsistent Lions Got an Early Christmas Present in Win over Vikings

The video will be played on ESPN on the hour, every hour until next Sunday. Every Lions player will have to answer a plethora of questions about it and head coach Jim Schwartz will have to answer even more. Sports analysts will debate the play until the cows come home and NFL fans will wring their collective hands and lament the fortunes of the dirtiest team in football.

Whether in victory or defeat, the Detroit Lions sure have a way of getting into the spotlight, don’t they?

Let's just get it out of the way. Yes, DeAndre Levy had a hand full of Joe Webb‘s facemask. It should have been penalized. The Vikings should have retained the ball and they would have likely won. It doesn’t take a giant leap to figure that out.

The Lions and their fans might take solace in the fact that Levy actually knocked the ball out prior to grabbing the mask. It didn’t lead to the fumble.

Regardless, the officials missed the call.

The Lions will undoubtedly be focused on other things this week though. Their performance was a shining example of the inconsistency that has plagued them all year.

The Lions are a frustrating team. On the stat sheet they look impressive. Matthew Stafford had a decent day, passing for 227 yards and two touchdowns and the Lions defense forced six turnovers. Stephen Tulloch scored on a fumble recovery and Alphonso Smith had a pick-six.

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? But remember, the Lions allowed a 2-10 team without their star running back to hang around. They allowed a rookie quarterback to engineer two impressive scoring drives. Then they allowed a second string QB to do his best Michael Vick impersonation and lead the Vikings on a dramatic comeback.

And it wouldn’t be Lion football without one bone-headed penalty; this one courtesy of Tulloch, who blind-sided Christian Ponder unnecessarily.

I’m not sure this is what Jim Schwartz had in mind when he said he wanted a playoff mindset.

The Lion offense was perhaps the most frustrating. They started off on fire, then took the final two and a half quarters off. Calvin Johnson was not involved, Stafford was pressured and sacked too many times and the running game was going nowhere.

They only converted 50 percent of their third downs.

This is not a formula to be successful in the playoffs, especially with teams like Green Bay and New Orleans out there.

The Lions have to shore up these issues. But we’ve been saying that all year. I’m beginning to think this is just who these Lions are. They are a team of potential and inconsistency. They are a team that can dominate but can also be dominated. They do things the hard way, not necessarily the right way.

But there is still time to put it all together. Three weeks in the NFL is an eternity.

The Lions have taken the first step in this last quarter of the regular season. They’ve done what they needed to do right now. They are in a better position then they were last week. And that was exactly what they were trying to do.

Mission accomplished.