Chargers vs. Lions: 5 Keys to a Detroit Victory on Sunday

Win and you're in.

This is the situation the Detroit Lions face this Saturday at home against the (traditionally) white-hot San Diego Chargers.

And we're not talking about the draft this December (okay, maybe a little), we're talking about playoffs. Nobody even has to cue Jim Mora.

The Lions need one win. Just one. With that, they secure their first playoff berth in over a decade and their first 10-win season since 1995.

Even without the 10th win, absolutely everything would have to go wrong to keep the Lions from playing a 17th game this season. We're talking Bears beating Packers, Arizona or Seattle winning out, Ford Field burning to the ground...you name it.

It would have to be utter madness.

But rather than focus on that, how about we just look at what the Lions have to do this Saturday to give Detroit its best Christmas gift of the century, without having to look at the scoreboard for other games?

Keep Stafford-to-Johnson Connected

I don't think Calvin Johnson is going to need another 214 yards receiving for the Lions to have a chance in this game.

Then again, they are playing a team that just hung 34 points on the Baltimore Ravens.

Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson hooked up a bunch of times in a bunch of big ways last Sunday, and to say that was the difference in the game is an understatement.

Sure, the Lions need a running game, but historically speaking, there are some awfully good offenses on some awfully good teams that build from little more than an elite quarterback and one elite receiver.

Brady-Moss? Manning-Harrison? Young-Rice?

The teams for which those tandems played may have had another respectable offensive piece or two, but those offenses were primarily built around that one connection.

Stafford-Johnson is the cornerstone of the offense, and as they go, so goes the rest of the team.

Keep the Penalties to a Minimum

The only reason we're not talking about the Lions' nine penalties for 72 yards is because the Raiders had 10 for 86.

But considering none of those penalties were stupid post-snap penalties, it has to be considered a marked improvement.

The Lions are actually coming tantalizingly close to Mike Singletary's famous formula:

1) Go out and hit people in the mouth;

2) We cannot give them the game;

3) Execute from the beginning to the end of the game.

If the Lions executed for 60 minutes every week, they wouldn't be coming back from two or three touchdowns back to win all the time. But at least they're doing a much better job of not giving away games like they did against Green Bay and New Orleans.

The Chargers are not going to neutralize the Lions penalties like the Raiders did, so the solution is simple: take less penalties.

Neutralize Vincent Jackson

In the Chargers' 34-14 rout of the Baltimore Ravens, Vincent Jackson had three catches for 84 yards.

In the last game the Chargers lost, against Denver, he had two catches for 25 yards.

I'm not saying Jackson keys the entire Chargers offense (that's Antonio Gates' job), but I do know that the Chargers get much, much harder to stop when he's on, especially now that Philip Rivers is hot.

Antonio Gates is going to get his, and the Lions can only hope to contain him. Ryan Mathews will probably have a decent day against a pedestrian run defense. I'm not conceding these things, and neither will the Lions.

That doesn't mean they won't happen.

Jackson, though, can be highly inconsistent. By limiting his output, the Lions will force Philip Rivers to go through an otherwise shaky (but still talented) set of receivers.

Keep the Pressure on

Philip Rivers has gone from a guy everyone thought was hiding an injury to a guy everyone wishes was injured.

Rivers' resurgence has been the primary cause for the Chargers' convincing winning streak, and the only realistic way to slow down the team that has won their last three games by an average of 24 points is to pressure the quarterback.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been advocating that the Lions play a little tighter on the run. And while I have nightmares about the arm tackles Mike Tolbert will run through this weekend, I have to say the Lions should probably just stick to their formula and go after Rivers this week.

One of the biggest differences in Rivers' play is that he hasn't been turning the ball over. The Lions have lived and died by turnovers all year. Defensive pressure forces turnovers.

Any questions?

The 12th Man

If by any chance you're heading to Ford Field on Christmas Eve to watch the Lions attempt to lock up their first playoff berth since 1999, make sure you prep.

Drink some tea with honey, or lemon, or whatever it is singers drink when they need to blare at the top of their lungs for three hours.

You might have to sign a waiver on the way in, releasing Ford Field and the Lions organization of any liability for your poor ruptured eardrums.

Because this Saturday, it's going to be a playoff environment at Ford Field, probably for the only time this season (if the Lions make the playoffs as the sixth seed, they won't get a home game).

That means success-starved Lions fans have this chance, and this chance alone, to make a difference for their team in the postseason.

Fire up the false start counter. It's going to get a little messy.