Last weekend, the Detroit Lions suffered another blowout loss, this time to divisional rival Minnesota by a score of 42 - 10. With the loss, the playoff aspirations of the Lions pretty much went out the window. Despite a very nice 6 - 2 start, they have lost their last four games and now find themselves at even .500 with a record of 6 - 6.

Luckily no one else, seems to want the last wildcard spot in the NFC. There are 8 teams vying for that last spot. The Lions, Cardinals and Vikings are all 6 - 6 while the other 5 teams are 5 - 7. Currently, the Cardinals have the tiebreaker edge since they beat Detroit head to head. Detroit has the edge over Minnesota having a better divisional record.

The Lions, however, have the toughest finishing schedule of any of the contenders. In their final four games, they play the Cowboys, Chargers, Chiefs and Packers. The Cowboys and the Packers are the cream of the NFC and given Detroit’s play of late, its highly unlikely that they would beat either of those teams. The Chargers got off to a bad start but are playing really good ball now and have taken charge of the AFC West. Its probably not a game the Lions will win either. That leaves Kansas City which is 4 - 8 this season and will sit out the playoffs. Lets go ahead and give that game to the Lions. That would make them 7 - 9 on the season. I don’t see them making the playoffs with that record, especially since Arizona is playing good ball and has the easiest finishing schedule. Don’t forget Minnesota either since they too are hot.

For the Lions to have a shot at the playoffs, they are going to need some help from the other contenders. Since all those teams have been all over the place this year, thats not entirely out of the question. If the Lions can steal one of those games from Dallas, San Diego or Green Bay, it would help their chances quite a bit.

Now, lets say Detroit does finish up 7 - 9 and misses the playoffs. Would the season be a success? A failure? If you had told me before the season that the Lions would go 7 - 9 and actually give a playoff spot a run, I would have said that the season was a success given the past years. However, after the solid 6 - 2 start, I am not sure I can say the same thing. That may not be fair, but to finish the last half of the season with the kind of record they are likely to, cannot be considered a success. Any gains the team seemed to have made in the first part of the season will have been wiped away. They will be in the same place they have been at the end of the previous seasons. In fact, they are likely to end up more in turmoil at the end of this season than they did at the end of last year. I suspect we will see some serious shake ups at the end of this year.

Don’t get me wrong - I am still an avid, devoted Lions fan as I have been my entire life and will continue to root strongly for them the remainder of the season. Who knows, maybe they can pull an upset or two, get some help and still eek into the playoffs. The injury to Roy Williams certainly isn’t going to help with those odds.