This week, Martin Mayhew locked up offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, and special teams coordinator Danny Crossman for at least the next year.  He is supposedly currently working on extending the contract of Head Coach Jim Schwartz.

This move ensures a consistent leadership in the organization and the kind of continuity in philosophies that perennial football powers like Pittsburgh and New England have used to maintain dominance in the league.  Pittsburgh's Dick Lebeau has been running the Steelers 3-4 defense for...what seems like forever.  He probably coached against Lombardi...Monte Kiffin was the DC for Tampa Bay for something on the order of ten years...and for those ten years Tampa had one of the best defenses every year.  Tom Moore was the offensive coordinator for most of Peyton Manning's tenure in Indianapolis.

Familiarity breeds high amounts of skill when applied to a football team.  An organization knows exactly what it needs to fill the requirements for their scheme.

As Linehan and Cunningham head into the fourth year of their schemes, they know exactly where their deficiencies are.  Also, just as importantly, they know exactly the most important pieces of their teams that need to be kept. 

Namely, Calvin Johnson and Cliff Avril respectively.  The offense, and the Lions organization as a whole, absolutely must, if they want to continue annual trips to the playoffs, extend Calvin Johnson to a long, long term deal.  This will probably take up an unhealthy part of the team's salary cap, but that's unavoidable.  Megatron showed how incredibly vital he is to the continued progression of Stafford and the legitimizing of the team's offense.  Megatron is a unique and very special talent.  He is this decade's Barry Sanders to the Lions.  The organization could never have justified losing Sanders, just as much as the Lions cannot afford to lose Johnson.

Avril managed 11 sacks this past season and was already on a one year contract.  In the NFL, a defensive end that can average 10+ sacks a season and apply consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks has been placed on a pedestal right next to the franchise quarterback and the offensive cornerstone of a left tackle. 

Even though Avril, who has steadily improved year after year, managed double digits sacks for only the first time in his career, if he is allowed to test the free agent waters, he will be highly sought after around the league.  He will demand a large contract too.

Furthermore, the Lions must also attend to MLB Stephen Tulloch and CB Eric Wright, both of who were signed to one year contracts before the season.  Both Tulloch and Wright proved very valuable, especially early in the season, but as the season went on and the Lions defense seemed to fall apart, especially in the last two weeks of the season, one might have to wonder how much of that faltering falls on Wright or Tulloch or even Avril?

The Lions have a ton of decisions to make and only a limited supply of cash.  It'll be a very interesting offseason.

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...

In the NFL you can only play who the next team that gets put on your schedule.  It's always a great argument whenever somebody puts a team down by saying, "Well, look at who they played!  Of course they're..."  If you take apart the Lions schedule this season and look at their 6 losses (2 losses to Green Bay, 15-1, 1 to New Orleans, 13-3, 1 to San Francisco, 13-3, 1 to Chicago 8-8, and 1 to Atlanta, 10-6), you might feel justified in keeping up with that argument.  Five of those six teams are going to the playoffs and Chicago was a real contender until they lost their starting quarterback for the year.  You might say that the Lions just can't beat the big boys...can't hang with the real contenders...

And you may be right...

But let's look at the Lions 31-17 loss a few weeks ago to this weeks wild card opponent, the New Orleans Saints.

1. 31-17 is only two scores...For the Lions, the way they've consistently come back in games this year, it's practically tied.

2. The first game was the first game Matthew Stafford played without his protective glove...and his hand was still sore...of course he still for over 400 yards in that game...

3. This was the first game of Ndamukong Suh's suspension.  Nick Fairly played extremely well for the first quarter and then was taken out after re-aggravating his previously broken foot. So the pass rush was severely hampered.

4. Kevin Smith, playing for the already IR'd Jahvid Best, went down in the second quarter with a high ankle sprain.

5. S Louis Delmas didn't play.  CB Chris Houston was held out with an injury too.  CB Eric Wright went out with an ankle or knee injury during the game...The secondary was decimated.

6. The Lions were called for FOUR personal foul calls which greatly helped the Saints sustain drives and score.  They were also called for an incredibly ridiculous face mask call on Nate Burleson when he tried to stiff arm a defender as he was going out of bounds. 

Now let's look at what will be different this game...

1. Stafford is completely healed and on fire after throwing for 520 yards and 5 TD's against the Packers (5,038 yards this season, only the fourth QB in the history of the NFL to accomplish this feat.)

2. Ndamukong Suh will play.  It appears that Nick Fairly will play.

3. The entire starting secondary of the Lions is set to play...and they have a lot to prove after they gave up 480 yards and 6 TD's to Aaron Rodgers' backup.

4. Kevin Smith is healthy.

5. New Orleans RB Mark Ingram, who scored in the first game, will be out this time around.

Now all that stuff is nice and all...but in the end, I really, really think that this game comes down two things...maybe three.

1. How good of a coach is Jim Schwartz...and his assistants?  The Lions have already played the Saints.  They know what they're all about.  What did they learn?  Will the Lions' adjustments prove to be better than New Orleans' coach Sean Payton's?

2. Penalties.  Will the Lions continue their assault on the NFL rulebook?  Will the whistles continue to blow against the Honolulu
Blue?  I'm sorry, but if you've noticed anything over this season...other than everybody and their brother calls the Lions "undisciplined and dirty"...is that they are not ever getting any calls, they are the victims of facemasks and holdings and offsides and pass interferences...and they do not get calls.  The Lions are getting mugged every Sunday and they are the ones being called dirty.

If you watched the Packers game, which was the first time anyone has said anything about the huge discrepancy in calls, you saw a blatant shot to the Kevin Smith's head as he scored a touchdown, no call.  A touchdown not called.  A muffed punt by Jordy Nelson.  A non-muffed bad call on Stefan Logan...

The Lions DO seriously need to stop with all of the dumb penalties and all of the regular penalties too.  They had 11 penalties against the Packers...but the games need to start getting called both ways too.

I'm not saying that's why the Lions lost to the Packers on Sunday...or all of their other losses, but the evidence of unbalanced officiating just keeps piling up.  The Lions lost to the Packers because they wouldn't have been able to cover a tree...but all those penalties and non-called Packer/Saint/etc calls.

3. Ndamukong Suh needs to have a Big 12 Championship type game...and if Nick Fairly and Corey Williams could chip in too that'd be awful nice.  The more pressure on Brees, the better.

With 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter at Lambeau, it occurred to me that Matthew Stafford had never lost at Lambeau...never...ever...in his whole career...of course, he'd never played there before either.  He'd been hurt in both of the Lions previous games at Lambeau Field.

And for a moment, despite the fact that the Lions defense may have played better if they didn't even show up at the game, may have played better if they'd played blindfolded, may have played better if they'd played with all of their shoelaces tied together... I thought that maybe the Lions could start a new streak...a new tradition...maybe the Packers would have to deal with Stafford slapping them silly every year for the next fifteen years...

I thought that this was a special year.  The streaks WOULD end!  The Lions would win....how could they not?  The Packers were playing with second and third stringers.  The Lions were playing against the same Matt Flynn that could only manage a field goal in the game he was forced into last season when the Lions were able to knock Rodgers from the game with a concussion.

Aaron Rodgers sat this game out.  Clay Matthews sat this game out.  Charles Woodson sat this game out. 

And still...the Lions...frankly...simply....just blew it.

The Lions started the game off with a touchdown and a safety....they were spotted a 9-0 lead...and they still managed to lose 45-41.  That means, from the middle of the first quarter on....the Lions were outscored 45-32...

If the Lions couldn't manage to beat the Packers second string...maybe they don't really even belong in the playoffs. 

So now, instead of probably facing the Giants next weekend..the Lions will travel to play the New Orleans Saints--where they have not lost all season.  Where Drew Brees can pretty much walk on water this season.  The word "Doomed" comes to mind...  Only a crazy person would expect the Lions be able to get their second playoff win in 55 years next week...

Now, the game wasn't all bad...just all bad defensively...Stafford managed to throw for 520 yards and 5 TD's...of course he also threw two very costly interceptions, but still 500+ yards is pretty damned impressive.  244 of those yards went to Calvin Johnson. 

Of course that means that Stafford threw for a Lions record 5,038 yards this season (the previous all time record before the aforementioned Brees shattered it this year) was 5,085 yards by Dan Marina.  He also threw for a Lions record 41 TD's this season...

And Stafford still didn't even make the probowl.

Before we get into the must win game against the Packers at Lambeau Field this Sunday, let's discuss how on Earth Eli Manning made the probowl over Matthew Stafford this season.  Aside from the fact that the Detroit Lions have had only one probowl quarterback since Bobby Layne...Greg Landry in 1971...40 years ago...there's another streak I'd hoped the Lions would break this year...a sheer stats comparison between the two should clearly show who was the better signal caller this season.

Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees were givens...they had to make the probowl.  The Packers almost went undefeated behind Rodger's super hot throwing and Brees just broke the passing yardage record which stood for almost 30 years...

Stafford has completed a higher percentage of his passes, with 10 more TD's and 2 fewer interceptions.  Manning managed to throw for 60 more yards over the season, but also has a lower QB rating and, most importantly, fewer wins.

Eli Manning engineered five come from behind victories--supposedly the key to a great quarterback's success is being able to bring a team back from the brink.  Joe Montana was a master at it.  John Elway was incredible.  A team is never out of a game when the guy taking the snaps has ice in his veins in the fourth quarter when everything is on the line and the score board is tilted in favor of the other guys.

Manning did this FIVE times this year.  The Giants were down, on average, 6 points when he had to pull them up and out of certain defeat.  That's pretty impressive....

Of course Stafford only managed to do this four times...but his deficits were different.  The Lions were down, on average almost 17 points in those games.  On two occasions, they were down more than 20 points...that's an entire game of scoring sometimes.  In my opinion, that's a wash, or maybe even a slight edge to Stafford.

Why is Stafford not in the probowl?  Because he doesn't play in New York....where Manning gets millions of extra votes from the hometown fans.

But...about the game...

The Packers have nothing to play for in this game.  They are 15-1 and wrapped up home field advantage throughout the playoffs.  The only thing the Packers truly have to be concerned about is keeping Aaron Rodgers healthy.  The fourth game of the preseason has just about as much value as this game for the Packers.

The Lions, on the other hand, NEED this game.  If the Lions can manage to win this game they will clinch the #5 seed in the playoffs.  The #5 seed will be playing the winner of the Cowboys/Giants game in the opening round of the playoffs...a game much more winnable than a trip to New Orleans or San Francisco--although I'd feel better about the Lions playing anybody but the Saints right now.

The Saints are on a tear.  They are a buzzsaw ripping through opponents right now.  Drew Brees has appeared virtually unstoppable in his last six games--one of those already being a blowout of the Lions.

I'd really like to see the Lions head to New York or Dallas, I think those games would probably have a much higher percentage chance of being won--and as everybody knows, the Lions have won only one playoff game since 1957 (1991)...Of course that was also the year of the last time the Lions won at Lambeau...

Packers Offense vs Lions Defense

 Truthfully, this is all about how much the Packers decide to play Aaron Rodgers.  Do they want to keep him safe on the shelf in order to have him perfectly healthy for what looks to be a long playoff run.  Or do they want to try and keep momentum going into the playoffs.

The last time Rodgers was hurt, a concussion sustained at the hands of our beloved Honolulu Blue, the Lions managed a 7-3 victory over the Packers and their second string QB Matt Flynn.  That victory was more than a year ago now and the Lions are a much, much different team now.

If the Packers sit Rodgers or only play him for a half or less....

Advantage: Lions

Packers Defense vs Lions Offense

Personally, I don't really understand why the Pacers D is ranked so low in so many categories.  BJ Raji is a monster, Clay Matthews is a ffierce and scary pass rusher and Charles Woodson is still the best corner back in the NFC...and his cornerback partner Tramon Williams might must be the second best...

But, for some reason, the Packers D IS at the bottom of the barrel.  I like Stafford's chances...especially after the huge slight he received from the NFL in not getting named to the probowl.  He's really got something to prove. 

The Lions offense and Stafford is really, really hot right now...

Advantage: Lions

Prediction: Detroit 28, Packers 17...an end to the curse of Lambeau Field...please, please don't let me have jinxed them...

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.