After experiencing the Lions playoff loss to the Saints, a 45-28 lopsided inevitability, I was overly emotional, irrationally enraged by the absurdity of how it all transpired.

As the scored again and again and again, a progression of thoughts occurred to me.

1. The NFL loves the passing game so much that pretty soon holding penalties will be abolished.  Pretty much like it was in New Orleans.

2. Perhaps the NFL just refused to be denied their inevitable Saints-Packers NFC Championship game...as I watched Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairly get held on play after play after play.  Three Saints held Suh back as Brees completed another deep pass.  A Saint held a fist full of the back of Fairly's jersey holding him back just enough that Brees could launch another deep pass.

3. The NBC announcers, the ESPN announcers, the NFL Network team and the Fox crew want nothing to do with the Detroit Lions.  Chris Collinsworth, while doing color for the game would routinely exalt the greatness of Brees while openly ignoring the blatantly obvious holding penalties happening all around him.  On the play where Brees was sacked and fumbled the ball...only to have fumble picked up and by Justin Durant with a clear path to the endzone...instead of being appalled by the incredibly ignorant officiating, he complained that the refs hadn't screwed up enough to allow the Saints to somehow keep the ball...The NFL Network's Deion Sanders refuses to acknowledge the progression of the young Lions...

4. I'm not saying the Lions would have won the game if it had been called correctly.  I merely say that this game would have been a LOT closer.

5. The Lions could not rebound from three dropped interceptions.

6. They could not find any way to get Brees and his horde of offensive weapons off the field...the Saints never had to punt.  The only times their drives didn't end in touchdowns, they ended with a field goal (at the end of the first half) or in two turnovers the Lions simply were unable to capitalize on.

7. The Saints are an offensive juggernaut.  And their complete dismantling of the Lions defense, they were generous to show Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz the team's most glaring need.  Defensive backs.  Look for the Lions to address the back 7 with as much fervor and single-minded abandon as they  have their front four this offseason.

8. The "Wide 9" may not be designed to forsake rush defense in or to generate more pass rush...but that's exactly what it does and that needs to change.  If that requires the dismissal of Gunther Cunningham, so be it.

9. Matthew Stafford, if he can stay healthy, is going to have the Lions in the playoffs in most years.  He's that good.

10. The Lions simply HAVE TO sign Calvin Johnson to a career length contract as soon as possible.

11. The secondary must be addressed and do not be surprised if the Lions don't make a serious run at Titans CB Courtland Finnegan.  Finnegan has experience with Jim Schwartz...just like Kyle VandenBosch and Stephen Tulloch...

12. I cannot remember, in my whole lifetime, the Detroit Lions having a probowl-worthy ball hawking corner back.  Dre Bly was probably the closest...but he was really just a bit better than adequate.  The Lions haven't had that kind of presence since Dick "Night Train" Lane. 

13.  Just like it was time for the Lions to find a replacement for Bobby Layne (which we've done with the play of Stafford), it is now time to find a replacement for the Night Train...

I was going to write this great write-up of the last time the Packers and Lions hooked up on Thanksgiving with the Packers undefeated and the Lions with a winning record...

But then ESPN beat me to it...and SI's Peter King did it too...

So now, you probably already know that the last time the Lions and Packers played a game of this magnitude on Thanksgiving was 1962...and the Lions won.

Now, I'm a big proponent of history...in that I'm always terrified it's going to repeat itself...because I'm dealing with Lions history and none of it has been all that good for more than 50 years.  So who wants any of that stuff repeating itself?

Heck, the Lions are currently 7-3...which, in my book, means they can still match that 7-9 record that preceded 0-24.

But this history...this is GOOD history...even though they didn't win a championship in 1962.  It was the second year in a row they won something called the "Runners Up Game."  And really, that says a lot about what kind of ancient history this 1962 game is.  Can you imagine the NFL having a "Runners Up Game" now?  The week before the Super Bowl?

Hmm...now that I think about it, that'd be a heck of a lot better than getting stuck watching the ProBowl.

But, the game would have absolutely no meaning as there is no special prize for third place...and I'm sure the NFLPA would go crazy if anybody even suggested it.

But the Lions DID win that game in 1962 and then the Packers won the championship...which may very well happen again this season.

I am still very, very scared of Aaron Rodgers.  Sadly, he has become everything that I hoped he wouldn't become.  He's a little like Anakin Skywalker...you kind of thought, "Yeah, that kids good, but he's got a pretty bad attitude...eh, don't worry about him.  He probably won't ever amount to anything...."  And then BAM!  Darth Vader...was that too geeky of a tangent....sorry.

But Aaron Rodgers is the Darth Vader of the NFL these days.  He is slicing everybody up and the Lions are the next team on his target list for destruction.

Green Bay Offense vs Detroit Defense

Seriously?  The Packers have the number one offense in the NFL...perhaps the best NFL offense in a number of years.  Aaron Rodgers is almost unstoppable.

This is where the butter meats the bread....where the rubber meets the road...where the gravy covers the gibblets?  The Detroit Lions are built to play in the NFC North.  They have built an imposing defensive line designed to quickly disrupt the throwing prowess of Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler.  Suh and Avril and VandenBosch need to be in Rodgers' face at all times.  In the 1962 game, the Lions sacked Bart Starr 11 times....this year, Rodgers is playing so well, the Lions may have to do that every quarter.

The Packers already questionable run attack has taken another hit as starting RB James Starks came out of last weeks game injured and will probably play this week at less than a hundred percent. 

In the end, it probably doesn't matter.  Rodgers is the soul and engine of that team...only if the Lions can bury him in the turf can the Lions hope to win.  They need to break his ribs into dust, so that some time in the third or fourth quarter the world will be able to see his beating heart...glowing like ET just trying to go home...trying to get away...

Advantage: Packers

Green Bay Defense vs Detroit Offense

The Pack has one of the worst rated defenses in the league...which, in my book, means jack squat.  The reason the Packers are giving up so many yards is that they are blowing everybody out.  Teams are desperately throwing the ball in hail mary attempts to get back into these games.

Charles Woodson, BJ Raji, Tramon Williams and Clay Matthews are studs on that defense.  I just don't see the Lions offensive line being able to contain Williams and Raji for an entire game...just as much as I'd be shocked if Woodson doesn't get a pick six at some point in this game.

The Lions offense can score with the Packers...but this is still a very young team going up against the defending Super Bowl champs. I really worry about Stafford throwing against those two corners.  If Kevin Smith can get a ground game going and keep the Packers honest...things might get very interesting. 

Advantage: Even

Prediction

Packers 35, Lions 21

This game will be close for a while, but then I see the Lions faltering late (if they don't falter early too as they have been apt to do) and Stafford throwing a pick six to Woodson to end it.  Don't get me wrong, I want the Lions to win.  I'm pretty much certain that they will have to win at least one of their two games against the Packers in order to make the playoffs.  I will be cheering my head off all day...and I hope you will be too, because it's been a long time since we could do that on Thanksgiving.