The Lions Once Again Snatch Defeat From Jaws Of Victory

Using the wayback machine that's permanently stored in my brain (both a blessing and a curse, by the way), let me take you back to the 1979-80 NBA season. The Pistons were the league's Keystone Kops, firing coach Dickie Vitale in November on their way to an inglorious record of 16-66.

Sometime during that wretched campaign, in the cold, drafty Silverdome, with its makeshift basketball court, the Pistons gave the Philadelphia 76'ers quite a tussle. The Sixers would go on to play in the NBA Finals that season, so they weren't chopped liver, as the Pistons were.

Anyhow, the game came down to the final seconds, the outcome still in doubt when Pistons center Kent Benson drove toward the hoop and -- oops! -- dribbled the ball off his foot. Pistons lose again.

Afterward, the Sixers praised the Pistons' effort.

"They're just going to have to learn to win games like that, like we did," Philly coach Billy Cunningham said. He should know. Cunningham played on the worst NBA team ever: the '72-'73 Sixers, who managed only nine wins in 82 games. And just a few years later, thanks to the acquisition of Julius Erving from the ABA, the Sixers became title contenders.

The Pistons did indeed learn to win games "like that," but not until drafts and trades brought them players like Isiah Thomas, Kelly Tripucka, Vinnie Johnson, Bill Laimbeer, et al.

The Lions haven't won any games "like that" for eons, it seems. They got another lesson yesterday, watching the perennial Super Bowl contending New England Patriots pull one out of the fire, a game the Pats shouldn't have won, for all the turnovers and penalties that they had.

But it's yet another show of why the Lions are scraping the bottom of the league's barrel. You can make all those mistakes, as the Patriots did, and still beat the Lions on most Sundays.

You knew it would end badly for the Detroiters, as it usually does, when the Lions could only eek out a measly eight-point lead, despite how poorly the Patriots played. Actually, you got that feeling in the second quarter, when the Lions, driving toward a touchdown that would have given them a 14 to 3 lead, suffered yet another fumble by Kevin Jones, who too often plays butterball instead of football.

Of course, it hardly matters, for this season is shot. Forget about the #1 overall pick. Do you REALLY think the Lions will make the most out of that? It shouldn't hurt, but how much it will help is definitely up for conjecture. So it doesn't matter for now, but learning to win games "like that" is what will get this team out of the NFL's Dumpster, should they ever hope to do so.

The Lions don't know how to win, because they haven't won. In years. It's a vicious cycle. They have to learn to win games like the Patriots have, and how the Dr. J Sixers did, back in the day. But sometimes you figure they'll forever be dribbling the ball off their feet.