Matthew Stafford gave the Detroit Metro area and the entire state of Michigan a great early Christmas present on Christmas eve: A guaranteed trip to the playoffs.

Stafford was on fire from the time he set foot in the stadium on Saturday: 29 of 36 for 373 yards and 3 TDs...and most importantly 0 INTs.  And it wasn't all the Stafford to Johnson show either.  More than six different Lions players had two receptions or more.

And the defense were able to stop the run and also keep Philip Rivers, who came into the game as hot as any quarterback in the league, in check too...intercepting him twice.

For the first time since 1978, the Lions were able to beat the Chargers...one more nasty streak cut down by these young upstart Leos.

Next week, the Lions will once again have another monster streak to cut down...Lambeau Field.  Sure the Chargers streak was longer, but because the Lions play the Packers every year...and largely because of the Devil named "Favre"...this twenty year losing streak at Lambeau will get all the play this week.

But for a moment...let's enjoy their first trip to the post season....whew...I can't believe it.  It's shocking really.   Matthew Stafford has stayed healthy all year....silencing the boat loads of critics who claimed he was "injury prone."  I'm sorry to say I was leaning toward getting on that boat myself...

1. Stafford now holds the single season passing records for yards, touchdowns and completions.

2. Stafford is still only 23 and there is still one game left this season.

3. Calvin Johnson now has the most receiving touchdowns for a Lion in a season, 15.

4. Stafford to Johnson, hopefully, knock on wood, will own all the Lions records in a few years...or at least all the ones that don't have "Sanders" or "Hanson" on them.

5.  Merry Christmas everybody!  And thanks to the Lions.

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 lay in wait of the remnants of the Minnesota Vikings team this Sunday.  It will be a game of attrition as both teams are already withered and injured up and down each roster.

The Vikings will play without starting rookie QB Christian Ponder or perhaps their best defensive back Chris Cook--who did very well against Calvin Johnson.  They will play with a hobbled Adrian Peterson, who comes in on one good ankle.  They will come in with a 2-10 record and players in fear of their jobs.

There would be little argument that this should be a blow out...but I fear it will not be.  This is a trap game.

Ndamukong Suh is still out, finishing his two game suspension for ultimate stupidity.

Kevin Smith may not play on a bad ankle.

Nick Fairly, Suh's replacement, is most likely out with a sore foot.

Delmas and Houston are most likely out too.  So the defense is much depleted in the face of...a hobbled Peterson and a third string quarterback...In Lions' lore, this is the kind of game that has shown itself over and over again--a team that the Lions really have little right in losing to.  A struggling skeleton of a squad with absolutely nothing to play for, while the Lions are in the middle of playoff run. 

The Lions need this game.  They need to win this one and the Raiders and the Chargers and to head into the graveyard of Lions' failures past, Lambeau, at 10-5...to have real hope to make the playoffs for the first time in more than 12 years...

Will this Lions team, which has broken so many tendencies and streaks in this season, be able to break this last major drought?  I'm not sure.  They could have cemented their place in the lead of the playoff race if they had stepped up to the challenge of Drew Brees and the Saints...but they didn't.  Instead they lost their heads in the pressure and screams of the Superdome and fell back to the pack...can they step forward this time?

Minnesota Offense vs Detroit Defense

The Lions have typically done a pretty good job of containing the Vikings best weapon, Adrian Peterson.  This week, he comes into the game hobbled on one bad ankle. 

The Vikings will start Joe Web at QB, an inexperienced running quarterback without much of an arm.  Web was so good in his short stint last season that the Vikings saw fit to reach for a third round QB with their #1 pick and grab Ponder. 

Perhaps the best option the Vikings have is WR and returner Percy Harvin, especially since the Lions have had such a hard time covering kick offs and punts this season.

Advantage: Detroit

Minnesota Defense vs Detroit Offense

Jared Allen was nice enough to give the Lions adequate billboard material this week.  Allen was nice enough to say in the press that "if (he) had to live in Detroit, (he'd) drown himself in that river." 

But I'm sure that nobody on the team saw that...

The Lions offense SHOULD manhandle the Vikings defense.  The only corner that seemed to have any success for them against Megatron will not be playing.  If the Lions can control the defensive ends Jared Allen and Bryan Robison (who had a good game the first time the two teams met, but will be playing injured this time) then there should be no problem scoring enough points.

But...Allen has always feasted on Jeff Backus...so there is definitely still room for concern.

Advantage: Detroit

Prediction

This is a rivalry game so you "throw the records out the window," but every indicator, prognosticator and trend says the Lions should still win this game despite the injuries and suspensions....and I hope they do...but something still has me really worried.

Minnesota 24, Detroit 21

It has taken me more than three days to get over that Thanksgiving day travesty of a game.  If you ate dinner really early and were in a Turkey coma or you were nursing a monster hangover and missed it...

I can't go on...there's no way anybody missed the monster-epic-massive contest between the 10-0 Green Bay Packers and the 7-3 upstart Detroit Lions...no way...which means that you saw what happened--all was revealed to you...

Ndamukong Suh has issues.  Perhaps, deep seated psychological issues.

The Lions were not winning.  They went into the half down only 7-0 to the undefeated defending Super Bowl Champs...and at the end of the first half, it really looked like they were finally applying pressure to the latest Darth Vader of the NFL, Aaron Rodgers.

The offense, despite some wretched throws by Stafford, had consistently moved the ball against the Packers...although they had been unable to come away with any points...mostly because of drive stalling penalties and a missed Jason Hanson field goal...not because the defense was proving good enough to stop them.

It was third down and three at ten yard line (approximately), the Packers had the ball and Rodgers forced an overthrow through the back of the endzone.  The Lions had stopped the mighty Packer offensive juggernaut AGAIN!  Sure, the Pack would most likely kick a field goal and make it a 10-0 lead, but anybody who's watched any Lions football this year knows that they don't even wake up until their at least 17 points down...things were looking up, especially against a defense that was giving up yards like crazy.

And then it happened.  Ndamukong Suh got tangled up with a Packer offensive lineman.  The lineman pulled Suh to the ground and appeared unwilling to let him go...this, in hindsight is called "holding" most of the time...but these are the Lions and they don't get calls like this...furthermore this was probably the fourth or fifth non-called holding on the drive...but whatever...the Packer lineman goes to the ground, dragging Suh with him.  Suh takes offense to this and shoves his head into the ground three times in "an attempt to get up."  Then, when he is finally able to free himself...he lashes out with a foot to kick the downed Packer again.

In truth, this is indefensible. 

But let me try to defend it anyway.  I can see where Suh's frustrations were building.  He, and the rest of the defensive lineman were being mugged--Cliff Avril has been quoted as saying his wallet was stolen by the Packer RT...--and there were no calls.  The defense had played a very good game and only due to a Stafford interception had they given up any points at all...

Most frustrating...but then he blew his top...and may very well have blown the Lions playoff chances this season. 

After the games this past weekend, the Lions went from being the #5 seed--if the playoffs ended today--to out of the playoffs all together.

Why?

In a very short 24 hour span, the Lions went from 7-3 and a real contender to talking about what running back they need to draft next April.

First they lost to Green Bay...now the record is 7-4.  Also, they've lost Suh, for at least two games due to his impending suspension for complete stupidity...during the game they lost Louis Delmas and Chris Houston to injuries (Losing two of your four starters in your secondary the week you go to play the #1 passing offense in the league is not a good plan for success.)  Furthermore, they lost RB Kevin Smith...they're only legitimate running threat since Jahvid Best's concussion...for who knows how long...and then the following day...they put Jahvid Best on the IR...lost for the season...no coming back. 

Atlanta, which holds the tie breaker advantage over the Lions, won also...tying them with the Lions.

Now, with no Suh and two backups in the secondary, the Lions go to New Orleans to play Drew Brees and his band of playmakers.  Not a good outlook...so, 7-5 probably...and another game back of Atlanta...playoff chances looking really, really slim now.

Furthermore, look at the Lions running back group...Mikel Leshoure-IR, Jahvid Best-IR, Kevin Smith-high ankle sprain, doubtful...yeah, that's about it.  Also, you can't know if Jahvid Best will EVER come back.  He may be forced to retire for his own safety.  Leshoure will have to come back from a torn achilles tendon, which is no gimme by a long stretch...and Kevin Smith, the guy who was out for the better part of two seasons with injuries, came back for one game and then...that's right...got injured.

You see where I'm going here....

Such a sad end to such a promising year...and there's still more than a month to go.

With the 15th pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions select....Running Back from...

0-24...that's what Kevin Smith probably remembers best...that a team that had just lost 24 straight games didn't think he was good enough to play for them.  He wasn't even brought to training camp as a roster fill in back when they could have 82 guys to practice with.

So he sat on his couch for the last eight weeks...working out in the morning and then....coming home and waiting...

He had six different try outs with NFL teams and....he wasn't picked up until Jahvid Best missed his third straight game with concussion symptoms....and even when the Lions picked him up, they figured he'd only do spot duty until Best came back.

Let me just say this, because it scream of how good of a story this is, Matthew Stafford bounced back from throwing two awful interceptions with his broken finger to throw FIVE touchdown passes to five different receivers and NONE of them were named Calvin Johnson...and nobody's talking about it...everybody wants to talk about a guy that Matt Millen drafted and the Lions cut and then brought back off of the trash heap.

Let me also say this...despite the Lions 7-3 record...I don't think this team has proven anything...in fact, it's brought up a heck of a lot more questions than it's answered. 

The Lions were down 24-7 to a 2-8 football team.  This game should have been a blow out.  We learned last week that if you go down by 17 or 20 points to a GOOD football team...you don't come back. 

And, outside of maybe Minnesota, the Lions don't have any gimme games left on their schedule. They cannot fall into huge deficits against the Packers (twice) or the Saints or the Chargers or Raiders.  The Lions are 7-3 and will need to win at least three of their remaining six games to make the playoffs.  Which means if the Lions can find a way to win this week against the Pack....they may just be able to write their own ticket to post season play.

But back to Kevin Smith...during his rookie season, which was pretty impressive, he still didn't rush for a thousand yards.  He is not an every down back.  Kevin Smith is the minimum of what the Lions were hoping to get out of Mikel Leshoure...and for right now, that's OK.

In 2008, when Smith was drafted, he ran with reckless abandon...but he never had the top end speed to take any runs the distance.  After he suffered two injuries in successive years...he no longer broke all those tackles and he still didn't have top end speed...that's why the Lions decided not to bring him back this year.

Now, he appears to be healthy, he is again making people miss and breaking tackles...but he STILL does not have that top end speed...that's why he was a third round pick to begin with.  He is a compliment to Jahvid Best, not a replacement.  Smith is a pounder and grinder and he may very well be exactly what the Lions need for the rest of this season in order to keep defenses honest.  He should average about four yards a gain...and if he does that the Lions should be ecstatic.

If he does it against the Packers this week and the Lions manage the upset...Smith may have to show he can do it in the playoffs too.