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Detroit Lions: It’s time for solutions, not excuses

ByNate Williams|

Yet another blown call by NFL officials has left Detroit Lions fans feeling helpless. Despite the bumbled fumble however, they have no one to blame for their current situation but themselves.

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The Detroit Lions left CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington as the NFL’s last winless team. Even after yet another lack-luster performance from the Lions offense, Detroit found themselves in position to come away with a win late in the game.

Despite struggling throughout the evening, quarterback Matthew Stafford drove the Lions down the field, starting from deep in their own territory and hit the highest paid wide receiver in the league, Calvin Johnson down near the Seattle Seahawks goal line for what would have been the go ahead score.

Instead, Seattle safety Kam Chancellor showed all of us why he deserves the contact he’s been actively seeking.

That’s one hell of a play by a world class athlete. However there was more to this play than meets the eye. Following the forced fumble by Chancellor, teammate K.J. Wright made what would have been a crucial error, one that would have ultimately landed the Lions on the Seahawks one yard line with first and goal. The problem? The officials blew the call.

NFL VP of officiating, Dean Blandino admitted following the game that the ball may have gone out-of-bounds on its own, but the bat was a foul nonetheless. This botched call by league officials, as you can probably imagine, caused an uproar amongst the Detroit Lions fan base far beyond the Motor City — and rightfully so.

For fans of this great franchise, being handed a loss by a zebra is an all to familiar feeling. Less than one year ago, it was this same squad that seen their 11-5 season squandered by a blown pass interference call in a playoff game in Dallas vs. the Cowboys. As you can probably imagine, similar circumstances left some of the Lions players with an all to familiar feeling following the game.

"“It’s costing wins and losses,” said safety James Ihedigbo, speaking in bursts of staccato frustration. “A simple, ‘Sorry, we made a mistake’ doesn’t suffice.”"

Now, with week five starting, a majority of Lions fans find themselves dejected. Again, screw over by the man in pinstripes whom obviously has something out against this team. Detroit vs. Everybody, right? Maybe not so much. As a life long Detroit Lions fan, this loss did indeed sting. It felt unique in the sense that things probably wont get any easier this season and this was our chance at building some sort of momentum moving forward. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for optimism, but I’ve also become a self-taught realist throughout my 28 years.

Oct 5, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor (31) forces a fumble by Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson (81) during the fourth quarter at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

The fact of the matter is, the Detroit Lions have no one to be mad at but themselves. The situation they currently reside in isn’t the fault of the NFL officiating crew — it’s the fault of the players and coaches who have failed to put themselves in a better situation to win games. And truthfully, this year is bad. The Lions offense is currently the only team in the NFL averaging fewer than three yards per carry, (2.7) and are also the only team averaging fewer than 69 yards per game, (47.0). They also entered Monday night averaging a putrid 305 yards per game. Somehow, Detroit fell 49 yards short of that mark against Seattle, and that’s only because of the final drive. But that’s not even the worst part. They are also just one of four teams scoring fewer than 17 points per game. The other three teams?

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

San Francisco 49ers

The common denominator? They’re all really, really bad clubs. For the Lions however, things do seem correctable. The question is, will they take the steps necessary to do so? For starters, they need to stop damning themselves with costly penalties. Left tackle Riley Rieff had one of the most ridiculous penalties of the night when he made contact with a player on the ground, effectively killing the Lions drive.

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Then there was also the call on second-year player Travis Swanson that negated a Zach Zenner run.

On the bright side, Detroit did allow just three QB hurries and zero sacks throughout the night and the defense played well despite the emergence of the dreaded injury bug. In the end though, Matthew Stafford was 24-35 for 193 yards.

Truthfully weak numbers — at least when you consider who his weapons are. So where does the blame fall? Many feel that it goes directly to offensive coordinator, Joe Lombardi — and rightfully so.

Since Lombardi arrived in Detroit, the Lions offense has struggled. Ultimately, Lombardi has taken away all of Detroit strengths whether it be the deep ball or the mismatches at wide receiver. Instead, he has resorted this offense to dump-offs, screens, and all-in-all underwhelming plays throughout the past year.

If the Lions want to correct the problem at hand, I’m not saying firing Lombardi is the direct answer. However, if they don’t start making better use of their playmakers over the middle of the field and putting in the running backs that are actually being productive, they’ll continue to struggle — at least on offense. Is this season a lost cause? Maybe. Maybe not. But there is still plenty left to play for. Even a step in the right direction would go a long ways at this point.

Next: Where Do The Lions Rank In Our Power Rankings?

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