Let me make this clear, I am a Lions slappy.  I live and die by the team and I will always hold it in my heart that they WILL come back and win.

That's why I'm an idiot.  That's why I'm always heart broken.

For the second week in a row all of the "cards" fell into place for the Lions to cement themselves as the leader in the clubhouse to grab at least the last wild card spot, if not the fifth seed.  The Giants lost.  The Bears lost.  If the Lions could beat the Raiders they'd have a really good shot of grabbing one of those two spots in the next two weeks.

Which is why they came out and played like crap for most of three quarters.  I was firmly under the impression that this was just a really young team who didn't understand how to deal with the kind of pressure applied to a team in the midst of a playoff stretch.

Matthew Stafford was missing open receivers or if he did manage to hit them, the Lions would drop them--9 dropped passes on the day...how can you win like that?  The running game never got on track and the majority of the Lions offense came on a handful of big plays that simply kept them close.

The Lions weren't stopping the run either and the corners were treating Oakland receivers as if they had some sort of communicable disease.  Chris Houston, playing an injured ankle, was giving a ten yard cushion...when he wasn't giving a fifteen yard cushion...and he also looked like he had decided that tackling was a job best left for other players.  He had a bad, bad game.

But then, in the fourth quarter, when it all mattered most, the Lions woke up again.  They've been doing this too much this season.  This is a trend that will not play in the playoffs...

Look at me, talking about playoffs in December and I'm not even using a statement like, "Someday, hopefully before I die, when the Lions make the playoffs." 

1. Stafford needs to start hitting more of these open receivers.  Also, in watching Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers and Tony Romo, when these quarterbacks are under pressure, they pull the ball down in order to make time to throw the ball down field.  That's not what Stafford does--Stafford pulls the ball down, waiting for a sack or in order to be able to better throw the ball away.  I don't know if that's something that he has to learn...or something he has been taught.  It's scary.

2.  Until Chris Houston is 110% healthy, they need to let Alphonso Smith play.  He may give up a pass every once in a while, but he also makes big plays.

3. I loved when Stafford pulled it down in order to get three yards and a first down on that critical late game fourth down play.

4. Ndamukong Suh came back for his first game and remained relatively invisible until the last play of the game.  If this continues, that suspension has done a lot more damage than it's done good.

5. The Lions are still WAY too penalty prone.

6. The offensive line, and Dominic Raioloa in particular, looked pathetic against that Raiders front.  Stafford was under too much constant pressure and the running game was...bad.  Raiola couldn't handle Richard Seymour and that was just the beginning of the Lions line problems.

7. Calvin Johnson is a stud.  Titus Young could be a star in this league.  Burleson and Pettigrew and Kevin Smith need to have superglue applied to their hands.

8. If the Lions can win either of their last two games (San Diego, at Green Bay) they'll clinch a spot.  If they lose out, they can still get in if, over the next two weeks,  each of the following teams suffers a loss: Giants, Bears, Seahawks, and Cardinals...and the Seahawks and Cardinals play each other, the Seahawks other game is against San Francisco.  The Bears play Green Bay and the Giants play the Cowboys.

First and foremost, let me say this...For the first time in this century, the Lions will not have a losing season....those are big, big words....an amazing feat that the Lions should be proud of...they are officially taking that next step that people in Michigan have been asking for for a long, long time.

But they shouldn't have won yesterday...and not just because I picked them to lose...by a point...which is what they would have lost by if the refs had called one of the most obvious face mask penalties in recent years....but hey, much like a lot...and I mean A LOT of calls all day...the refs decided to overlook this one too.

The refs overlooked a ton of calls...both ways...so if everybody is cheating...then it's "fair."...I guess...I think...

Here are some other thoughts about this game...

1. On the long incompletion to Titus Young...a beautiful laser, put in just the right spot up the left sideline...the reason he didn't catch that ball was because the Vikings defender grabbed his outside arm and pulled it back, before the ball got there...that's called pass interference...

2. Any time that Matthew Stafford feels the pressure and pulls it down...he never seems to look downfield.  It's as if he panics early and then tries desperately to escape...these are the mistakes of a rookie qb with mobility...which Stafford isn't...he's not a rookie and he's definitely not mobile.  He needs to be coached out of this.

3. Why?  Why couldn't the Lions stop Toby Gerhart?  He's the reincarnation of Tommy Vardell...maybe Mike Alstot...not Earl Campbell.  He's not a speed back.  He's a power runner.  The strength of the Lions is supposed to be their defensive line and yet they couldn't stop Gerhart from averaging almost ten yards a carry. 

4. Why?  When the Vikings had only one viable receiver, Percy Harvin, were we completely unable to cover him?  How can the Vikings be smart enough to consistently find ways to get Harvin the ball and we can't get more catches for Calvin Johnson?  The Lions must be doing something really wrong.

5. The Lions really missed Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairly this week.  They'll definitely get Suh back for this weeks road game against the Raiders...but you know that every eye in the stadium will be on him and he'll get flagged for anything that is remotely close to a foul.

6. Likewise, the Lions really miss a running game.  With Leshoure gone all season, Best now on the IR and Kevin Smith nursing a bad ankle, the Lions have been trying to scrape together some semblance of a rushing attack with Maurice Morris (who has been less than impressive), Keiland Williams (who has looked good at times, but not consistently) and reverses to Stefan Logan and Nate Burleson.  This is a team that cannot get one yard late in the game with their running attack.  This will not do.

7. Where has Alphonso Smith been all year?  I know he came to camp hurt, but last season he was the second best (some might say the best) corner on the team and this year the Lions have played an inexperienced and highly suspect Aaron Berry instead of Smith.  I hope to see Smith the rest of the year...at least in the Nickel if nothing else.

8. Are Houston and Delmas coming back?  The Lions need them badly.

9. Sure there were no stupid personal foul penalties, but...the Lions still gave up 10 penalties...that's pathetic.

10. In order to make the playoffs, the Lions have to win against both Oakland and San Diego...if they don't, they will not be playing in January.

The Lions made a lot of moves over the weekend...some of them pretty risky.

For instance, the Lions cut long time punter Nick Harris in lieu of rookie Ryan Donahue.  The competition during the preseason games looked to be pretty much a draw.  The fact that Harris was due $1.4 mil, while Donahue will make the rookie minimum of $375K is not supposed to have had anything to do with the move...hopefully, Donahue kicked butt in practice because if the Lions are going to make a playoff run...I think I'd be a little more comfortable with a seasoned vet punting out of the back of the endzone in a big game than a rookie. 

Aaron Brown made the original 53 man roster, but was then cut to make room for Keiland Williams, who was picked up on waivers.  Williams is a physical clone of Mikel Leshoure who was put on IR after popping his Achilles tendon early in camp and it is hoped that he will takeover the short yardage role left vacant by Leshoure's injury.  Brown has always shown exceptional speed, but was marked down for his attention to detail in his blocking assignments and route running.  Still, it would have been nice to have a real burner in the backfield just in case anything happened to Jahvid Best...

The Lions kept both Maurice Stovall and Rashied Davis in the wide receiver battle, instead cutting old Lions draftees Tim Toone and Derrick Williams.  Both Davis and Stovall are exceptional special teamers and veteran pass catchers.  Here the Lions probably played it safe.

The Lions reactivated last year's starting CB Alphonso Smith, who had missed all of preseason with a broken foot.  He will probably not play this week against the Buccaneers, but the Lions believed that he'd be game ready long before the six week limit they'd have had to wait if they put him on the PUP list. 

They also cut Nathan Vasher, Prince Miller, and Paul Pratt. 

Also, on the original 53 man roster, the Lions did not have a backup to either offensive guard...this was rectified when they claimed G Jacques McClendon from the Indianapolis Colts.  In a pinch C Dylan Gandy has played some guard and the Lions also tried T Corey Hilliard a bit this preseason.

Jason Hanson excluded, the Lions are bringing a really young team into the 2011 season, the majority of the teams players are entering their fourth season or less.  If the preseason showed us anything (which it probably didn't) this team is not only young...it looks to be hungry....

Keeping my fingers crossed.