Week 18: Thank God, it's over

The Lions bowed of the '00 decade with nary a whimper on Sunday, losing 37-23 to the Chicago Bears in a extremely rare sell-out at Ford Field. I'm glad it's over for this decade--sometimes it hurts to write these articles, maybe even almost as much as it hurts to read.

The Lions have some building blocks for next year...but far too few to get anybody's hopes up.

1. Matt Stafford, Franchise Savior, proved that he is worth spending the time to build a team around.
2. Calvin Johnson is bad ass...when the Lions can manage to get him the ball.
3. Louis Delmas is a defensive cornerstone for the future.
4. DeAndre Levy deserves to play in the league and may just be another cornerstone to build on. I remember reading in the early '90's about how the Lions had built a very sound defense by drafting talent "up the middle." Back then, they were talking about Bennie Blades, Chris Spielman, and Jerry Ball. This year, maybe, we could be talking about Louis Delmas, DeAndre Levy, and Sammie Hill.
5. Um....er....that's about it. The Lions and Lions fans are going to talk all offseason about having to build the defense up from the worst unit in professional sports, 2+ years running. I agree with this whole heartedly, however, I also realize that the offense is much, much closer to being a cohesive unit than the defense. With Stafford, Calvin Johnson, and Brandon Pettigrew, the Leos are a RB and two guards away from having a real NFL calibre squad. Just something to keep in mind.
6. That being said, no team can be built that will be able to overcome giving 30-50 pts a game.
7. Ndamakong Suh is most likely going to go #1 overall to the St. Louis Rams, unless some new "Franchise Savior" comes along who can throw 50 yard frozen ropes...here's hoping Jimmy Clausen or Sam Bradford put on miraculous showings....that being said, if Suh is gone, Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma should most likely be the pick. Pairing Suh or McCoy with Hill will give the Leo's an enviable interior defensive line, which is what the Minnesota Vikings have built their franchise around for the last few years--and they may be headed to the Super Bowl this year.
8. Talk that Suh and McCoy are too light, each weighing in at 295-300 lbs, is flat stupidity. Every player that gets the NFL and a professional trainer, not to mention nutritionists, gains at least 15-20 pounds of new muscle. Usually as much or as little as the team dictates it wants.
9. Aside from Delmas, there isn't a single player on the roster from the secondary who should be coming back next year.
10. Maybe the Lions scouting department hasn't been all that bad for the last ten years, maybe Millen just ignored them.

Some other ideas heading into the playoffs.
1. The Football Gods will not look favorably on the Indianapolis Colts for pissing away their perfect season. I don't expect them to make the Super Bowl.
2. I don't know what happened to the Saints, but if I was any playoff team, right now, I'd be hoping to draw the Saints in the second round.
3. The Sanchize led the NY Jets to the playoffs...with the help of the #1 rated rushing offense and defense.

Cheerleaders?

The Lions tortured their sell-out crowd Sunday by denying fans the usual eye candy provided by almost every other NFL team. I long to see a Lions cheer squad in high-def.

3rd and 3 or less

Every team tries to get to a "manageable" down and distance on third down. 3rd and 3 or less is the goal of every offense. But what should they do when they actually achieve said goal? Run it! The average NFL rush goes for 3.75-4.25 yards...why not run it?

Against the 49'ers, the Leo's faced the situation 3 times, failing on every attempt...not much of a recipe for success. One time passing, two times rushing...although one of those rushes was a scramble...but it counts.

Against the Bears, they faced the situation five times, 1 of 3 passing and 1 of 2 rushing.

For the season, that puts the totals at 14 of 23 rushing versus 12 of 28 passing (60% vs 42%).