Motor City Sports Sports in Detroit and beyond

Game Thoughts: Lions vs. Rams, 11/1/09

Jim Schwartz doesn't think his team can win a game.

I'm not sure that I blame him.

Sunday, playing a horrible St. Louis team, the Lions didn't even try to attack offensively. Instead, they came out with two running backs and two tight ends and tried to nibble the Rams to death. It didn't work.

I understand Calvin Johnson wasn't playing. I know Matt Stafford wasn't 100 percent. I saw the receivers dropping passes.

But that still doesn't excuse a failure to even try. Stafford didn't complete a pass to a wide receiver until the fourth quarter. That one set up Detroit's only touchdown, but it didn't exactly inspire the offense. Stafford did hit Bryant Johnson for a seven-yarder later in the fourth, but that was it. The Lions kept punting and the Rams finally took advantage with the winning touchdown.

I'll give you a perfect example of Detroit's timid game plan. With four seconds left in the first half and the Rams leading 10-2, the Lions had 4th-and-2 at their own 43. Everyone in the stadium knew what was coming - Stafford would throw a Hail Mary into the end zone and hope one of the Lions came down with the jump ball. Maybe you get a pass interference penalty or maybe you throw a meaningless interception, but you take the chance.

So what happens? Stafford drops back and throws a ball that sails a mile out of bounds at the 20-yard line. The ball came down closer to the fans than the field, but bad passes happen. Maybe the ball slipped.

Nope. That was what Stafford was told to do. Schwartz and Scott Linehan were so terrified that the Lions would make a massive mistake - allow a sack where Stafford fumbled and the Rams would return it for a touchdown - that they told Stafford to throw the ball as far out of bounds as he could. It was one of the most cowardly calls I've ever seen in an NFL game.

Of course, if the Lions weren't going to go for the touchdown, they could have done the next thing on a real team's checklist and punted the ball. Schwartz wasn't going for that idea though, because if there is any unit he trusts less than the offense, it's the special teams. They've been terrible all season and had just given up a ridiculous touchdown on a fake field goal.

So the Lions threw the ball away. It was just one play, but it summed up the current Detroit Lions - a team so bad that even their coach doesn't think they can win a game.