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Until you reach the final weeks of the NFL season, with playoff berths and division titles up for grabs, there really is no such thing as a must-win game.
But there are those weeks on the schedule that seem to carry a bit more significance.
This week, the Lions have such a game.
The New Orleans Saints are coming to Ford Field, a shell of the dominating offensive machine they used to be.
They have played three times on the road this year and lost them all.
Even the Saints’ two wins, over the horrendous Vikings and the unimaginably bad Buccaneers, were nip-and-tuck affairs that did little to reestablish their reputation as one of the league’s top clubs.
Not the Same Saints
They limp into Detroit without the services of their ace tight end Jimmy Graham, which negates any built-in Lions’ fan excuse about a loss in this game being attributed to an injured Calvin Johnson. The playing field is even.
Jim Caldwell’s group is a healthy 4 and 2, tied with the Packers for the division lead. They are an uncharacteristic 2-1 on the road, and are coming off a game in which the defense did a spot-on impersonation of the ’85 Bears, with Teddy Bridgewater playing the role of Tony Eason and Ziggy Ansah that of Richard Dent.
Matthew Stafford has not set the league on fire to this point, but neither has he done the type of damage that can lead to easy points the other way and backbreaking losses at the final horn. His numbers and production need to improve, without a doubt, but for now, his steady hand and reliance on a dominating defense has served the club just fine.
And it needs to continue this Sunday. If this long-beleaguered franchise wants to pretend it has turned a magical corner, that they are now a real contender for something other than the top pick in the next year’s draft, these are the kinds of games that they must find a way to win.
Admittedly, Drew Brees and his boys are not the Saints of 4-5 years ago. Back then, a date with New Orleans meant an afternoon of long bombs and a demand you put up 40 points or more to have a shot at victory. But a win for the Lions this week would represent a power shift, albeit a minor one, in the NFC’s pecking order.
Shedding Stepchild Image
The Saints have long been one of the conference’s gems. The Lions have long been an ugly stepchild.
If that very real perception is going to change, it will happen from 1 to 4 PM this Sunday.
It’s important because of the games that will follow, too.
Next up for the Lions will be that funky 9:30 AM clash with the Falcons in England. After a bye and a relatively easy game against the Dolphins at home, it’s back-to-back road wars. The Lions must go to Arizona, where they never, ever win, then hit the other coast for a super-difficult assignment in New England against Wizard Belichick and his revitalized Patriots.
The 2014 Lions’ season will start to take on a personality this Sunday.
They can struggle like they did against Buffalo, have trouble getting the ball in the end zone, and emerge with a hard-fought, but ultimately empty home loss. They’ll still be over .500 and will shrug the defeat off as just catching a desperate Saints’ club at the wrong time.
It won’t be the end of the world, but we’ll know that they remain on the fringe of “contender” status, another autumn tease that will likely end in sadness.
Or they can take the road that, with this franchise, is generally much less traveled.
They can win. Authoritatively. They can hold Brees and Co. to under 20. They can spread the ball around on offense and stop settling for (missed) field goals.
They can win, get to 5-2, grab hold of the division, and announce themselves as a real threat for the first time in ages.
This team always finds themselves scoreboard-watching at the end of the year -- hoping somebody knocks off Chicago, or that Green Bay falters at Lambeau.
Why not actually have a year when you simply take care of business, beat the inferior opponents, and let the other teams worry about your scores in Week 17?
This week’s game will not tell us everything, but it will provide a real glimpse into what we can expect from this group going forward.
Beating JV teams like the Jets and Vikings is perfectly fine, but it really doesn’t move the needle a whole lot.
Take out a perennial powerhouse like the Saints, however, and this season starts to feel just a little bit different.
And with this long-suffering franchise -- they of the one playoff triumph in 50-plus years -- different is never a bad thing.
