Last January, the Detroit Lions locked up the top seed in the National Football Conference playoffs with a romp win over division rival Minnesota. The victory over the Vikings was the last shining moment for Dan Campbell’s squad.
Two weeks later, they opened their postseason play on their home field and allowed the upstart Washington Commanders 45 points while losing by two touchdowns. A primary reason for the Lions quick exit from the playoffs after winning a franchise record 15 regular season games was injuries. The stop unit that defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn had orchestrated was missing key players at every position, and the makeshift alignments on the field finally caught up with the team.
This season, after an opening loss in Green Bay to the Packers in a division war, the Lions got on track and appeared to be their old selves while blowing out the Chicago Bears and their new head coach, Ben Johnson, in the Motor City home opener, 52-21. Three more wins followed, and the Lions appeared to have overcome the loss of both their coordinators to head coaching positions. While Johnson was leading the Bears, Glenn took the reins of the New York Jets.
The Lions four straight victories ran into a determined Kansas City Chiefs squad at Arrowhead in October and Detroit dropped a 30-17 decision. That was the start of the Lions being knocked off their perch as the best team in the NFC. Over their past nine games the Lions have a losing record, four wins and five losses.
The Lions enter action this week two games behind the division leading Bears with the Packers wedged between the front runner and Detroit.
The problems the Lions have encountered this season can again be traced to injuries on both sides of the ball. In November, they lost tightend Sam LaPorta, one of the best players at his position in the league, to a back injury that required surgery and probably leaves him in street clothes for the rest of the season on game days. In December, a defense that had already lost a couple key contributors took a major hit when safety Brian Branch was lost for the season to a torn Achilles.
A healthy Lions squad is as good as any team in the league, has been for two years, but these critical injuries leave Campbell and company with the prospect of watching the playoffs on television.
This week, the Lions host the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Steelers are leading their division, the AFC North, by one game over the Baltimore Ravens. With their victory last night, Mike Tomlin’s squad put themselves in the position that with a win on the final day of the regular season over John Harbaugh’s Ravens they clinch their division race.
Right, no matter what the Steelers do on Sunday in Detroit or in their Week 17 contest at Cleveland, a victory at home against Baltimore on the final day of the regular season clinches the division for Aaron Rodgers and company.
Now, that is not to say the Steelers don’t want to win Sunday in Detroit or against the Browns a week later. They could clinch the division before that showdown with the Ravens on the final day of the regular season.
But, on the need scale, the Steelers don’t register, and the Lions are in a must win situation to keep their postseason hopes alive.
Need consistently beats want, and in this case the NEED is in all caps for the home team and the want is really a don’t need for the visitors.
Qoxhi Picks: Detroit Lions (-6) over Pittsburgh Steelers