Ahhh, the NFC North! It's a cute little division, isn't it?
Where else can you have a bye, as the Lions did, and move UP in the standings? Where else can you look like a chump one week and emerge as a potential champ the next? Where else can you be 0-3 and still be considered a contender?
If there's anything that the Lions should be thankful for this season, it's that they play in the North. It just might be their saving grace this year, a season in which 8-8 just might git 'er done. It may even be considered a blessing that the Lions are in the North. And you can count the blessings the Lions have had since Matt Millen took over on one middle finger.
The Lions now have the equivalent of a Mulligan -- a do-over. Their putrid loss to the Bears was almost completely negated by the events that happened yesterday. The Bears lost and are 1-2, the Vikings won just to GET to 1-2, and the Packers are a very un-Brett Favre-like 0-3. That puts the boys in Honolulu Blue in first place, folks, and while you are stifling your giggles, the facts are the facts: the Lions lead their division.
Of course, there is a trip to Tampa to face the 3-0 Bucs, so this being-in-first place-alone stuff is liable to not last very long. Still, the Lions are a first place team, and it's time they start acting like it. This NFC North can be theirs for the taking. The problem is, each of the other squads that play there can say the same thing -- even the winless Pack. It's a ghoulish, nasty looking division that is setting pro football back a few years, but what the heck? Just ask the San Diego Padres if they will make any apologies for being in the playoffs with what might be a below .500 record.
Actually, this is probably exactly the division the Lions need right about now -- kind of like a starter division for league beginners. They can still get the flavor of contention without playing much better than .500 the whole season. They can pretend to be a playoff club and yet nobody will take them seriously nor feel the need to bring their "A" game, like the REAL winners in the NFC (read: Eagles).
So enjoy your first place Detroit Lions while you can, because in this division, you can be in last place in a couple weeks. The joys of parity.
1 comment:
I knew the Lions and Bears would be contenders this season, I didn't know the Packers would be as bad as they are. It's a wide open division.
If you turn on your word verification, on your blogger dashboard, it will take care of the spam blogs you are getting.
Post a Comment