Let me start off by saying that I hated all four teams in the NFL Championship round equally.  I had no care of whether or not I'd be able to root against Jim Harbaugh, Tom Brady, Eli Manning, or Joe Flacco.  Couldn't care less...but I still noticed something that really irked me about these games.

I saw a grand total of one...one in two games...holding calls.  Not that I didn't see A LOT of times where it could have been called without question.

Now, there is a lot of belief that in the playoffs you simply "let them play" and maybe I'm down with that...but what that really does is completely change the rules.  It completely nullifies the strength of a lot of teams.  Teams have traditionally been built "from the inside out" with a huge emphasis on the defensive line...like the Lions have been built...and it drives me crazy to see hold after hold after hold not called...Why?  Because--please, please, please--when the the Lions start becoming perennial contenders, they will be one of the most hurt by officials looking the other way.

Furthermore, it takes away from the integrity of the game.  They say holding can be called on every play...it's a judgement call by the officials...meaning the game is pretty much being played at their discretion. 

Seriously, down the stretch, the Lions DL was mugged so many times, I think Cliff Avril had to file a police report.

And it's not just holding...there are other plays from this past weekend that drew my ire. 

For instance in the Bal-NE game, Baltimore wideout Torrey Smith took a pass down the sideline, tried to stiff arm a defender and dove more than five yards to hold the ball out over the goal line for the score.  Because it was a scoring play, it was automatically under review.

So the world got to watch, replay after replay of the play and what did they see...although no announcer ever made any comment whatsoever...Torrey Smith facemasking the defender.  In fact, the blatant facemask made the play even more impressive, because Smith grabbed that facemask so hard that he actually dragged the defender with him as he flew through the air! 

Why do I bring this up?  Other than because I am so outraged that the call was so utterly blown, but during the season, Lions WR Nate Burleson was called for doing the exact same thing...big play reversed...for the Lions...If Torrey Smith has a lion on the side of his helmet, the whole play gets called back, who cares if he scored or not.

Consistency is my big issue.  Sure it's easy to complain about the refs on any given Sunday, but do they have to make it so incredibly easy? 

Another example, the SF-NY game had tons of awesome hard hitting...tons of completely illegal--according to the rules--head to head contacts...No calls...And don't think that I'm against the hitting...I don't think it should be called.  It's football for heaven's sake, it's all about hard hitting...but if you put in the rules and you're going to penalize some teams you have to penalize them all.  It's supposed to be a level playing field.

Is it because it was in the playoffs, or was it because there were four successfully established franchises playing in the games? The rules shouldn't change from week to week for ratings or for anything else.

This year has been incredible for the Lions.  They started off 5-0, part of a nine game winning streak.  They've looked awesome and have repeatedly been the talk of the NFL...but then they played a really, really hot 49'ers team--a 49'ers team that they'd lost to 12 of the last 13 times they'd met...

And they lost....and all hell has broken loose.

First of all, there was "ShakeGate."  Jim Schwartz and Jim Harbaugh met to shake after the end of the very emotional game and Harbaugh may or may not have shaken Schwartz's hand too hard, he may have pushed him in the back, he may have said something under his breath...I don't know exactly what happened, I just know that I'm not fully believing the messages the coaches have been putting out about the incident....but when it happened, I can lip read well enough to know that Schwartz didn't say "Have a nice day!" or "Good luck next week."  And then Schwartz chased him down the field and bumped into him a few times...

So that was a real mess, probably propagated by two very young very competitive coaches, one who was pumped to the nines about having won and one who was really upset about having lost...

On Monday, it came out that Jahvid Best was suffering from concussion symptoms...which is especially scary because it's his third concussion in two years...which was the BIG, BIG fear when the Lions drafted Best.  That's why he was available at the bottom of the first round....

As the NFL Trade Deadline approached, with the Lions not having any idea of what Best's status would be this week or moving forward, they engineered a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for former first round running back, Ronnie Brown.  The Lions were sending RB Jerome Harrison and a seventh round pick for Brown.

This was new...the Lions were dealt a major blow and, contrary to their long history of not addressing issues during the season, they actually went out and made a move! 

But then, today, it comes out that the deal has been voided by the Eagles.  And the trade deadline has now passed...

What happened? According to NFL Network's Adam Schefter, the physical the Eagles gave Jerome Harrison revealed a brain tumor--not a shaky knee or elbow...not a bad achilles or hamstrings...a BRAIN TUMOR...a life threatening condition!  I don't mean to make light of this.  My hopes and prayers are with Harrison and his family as he deals with this horribly unexpected, life changing event.

But this is Lions luck, by definition.  This is not the kind of thing that happens every day...The Lions have had to deal with horrible injuries like Reggie Brown, Mike Utley, and Zack Follet--just to name a few...  They have had to deal with the awful passings of Erik Andolsek, Lenny Fontes, and Chuck Hughes--the only player to actually DIE on the football field.

Hopefully this tumor was found early enough that Harrison can receive treatment and beat it...but it doesn't look like he'll be suiting up any time soon...

The Lions then went out and made a second move to try and shore up the RB position...signing James Davis to the practice squad...a player whose played for the Browns and Eagles...and Davis lasted less than 24 hours...he's on the IR already...

 And Best's status still remains uncertain...

The Lions were coming off their biggest victory in a lot of years last Monday night...and they were facing a red hot 4-1 49'er team on a short week....so there were built in excuses...but I don't really buy them.

The Lions lost 25-19 on Saturday because Matthew Stafford was really off and they seemed to refuse to throw the ball Calvin Johnson in the red zone. 

For the first time this season, Johnson finished without a TD reception.

I mean, there were other things the Lions did wrong...letting Frank Gore run all over them for 141 yards certainly didn't help, but when it all comes down...Stafford simply missed too many throws--especially in the fourth quarter.

28 of 50 for 293 yards, 2 TD's and no interceptions looks pretty impressive...but he simply missed far too many open guys.  He needs to be completing passes on average in the high sixties, not just above fifty.

The Lions returned to a completely pedestrian running attack, as Best managed only 30 yards but rarely ever had any room to run.  In fact, Maurice Morris had a better average per carry.

The offensive line allowed Stafford to get hit much too often and just couldn't get enough push in the ground game.  The fact that the Lions were still even in the game after having to settle consistently for field goals was probably more than the average fan should have expected.

The defense could not stop the run...which is really weird, because it seems the strength of our defense is generating a pass rush (but rarely getting any sacks) and short yardage situations (but typically giving up big gains.) 

How will we be able to stop Matt Ryan (who's a lot better than Alex Smith) or Micheal Turner (who's arguably better than Frank Gore)?

I'm not sure.  5-0 was nice, but now I'm starting to get really worried about the next few weeks if the Lions can't shore up the deficiencies (which were supposed to be their strengths.)  These are issues that have shown up every week...except for Kansas City...

I hope the offense goes back to it's strength (Calvin Johnson) and then we can move on to our new problems (Coaching handshakes.)

The Lions and Packers are sitting atop the NFC Central, both at 5-0...the only undefeated teams left in the NFL.

The 49'ers are 4-1 and sitting on top of the NFC West...and will be using a formula the franchise perfected in the 80's and 90's...play in the worst division in football and dominate it...the NFC West may just be a little worse than the WAC. Seriously, the Rams are awful, the Seahawks are a complete enigma and the Cardinals have no identity and appear to be just going through the motions.

Not that the 9'ers aren't good.  They appear to have a very good, very aggressive defense and their offense is doing more than enough to keep them on the winning track.

Patrick Willis is the best MLB in football.  Carlos Rogers is the guy I really wanted the Lions to get instead of Eric Wright and Jim Harbaugh appears to be pushing all of the right buttons with Alex Smith, Vernon Davis, Frank Gore, and Micheal Crabtree.

This game will not be easy.  This is a classic let down game...even though the Lions know they are in for a battle against a 4-1 team...this game is coming after the huge, emotional victory on Monday night.

This will be a huge test.  A test that Lions teams of the past have never really been up to.

And history is not on Detroit's side against those guys from the bay.

The 49ers have won 12 of the last 13 games, including the last seven straight.

But so far this season, this team has been all about ending the streaks and changing the trends.  They ended the losing streaks to Chicago and Minnesota.  They've won multiple games on the road...and in the division...Hopefully, that will continue this Sunday at Ford Field.

SF Offense vs Detroit Defense

Alex Smith is a former #1 overall draft pick, who, to date, had never played like a player with that much value.  This year, he doesn't appear to be "winning" games as much as he is an excellent caretaker for games.  Look for the 49'ers to combat the endless waves of stellar defensive lineman the Lions throw at opposing offenses with a heavy dose of screen passes and runs to all pro RB Frank Gore.  Suh and Fairly and Williams and KVB and Avril need to put Smith on his back a lot more often than they did Jay Cutler last week and the linebackers need to be proficient in cleaning up the leftovers...like screens and the tight ends.

And San Fran has two really good tight ends in Vernon Davis and Dalaney Walker. 

The Lions are oft criticized for not having a great secondary..but against the Niners that might not be that big of a deal as two of their top three wideouts are down with injuries.

Advantage: Detroit (But not by as much as you'd think.)

SF Defense vs Detroit Offense

This is where it gets really interesting.  The Niners have a top 10 defense.  Patrick Willis is probably the best MLB in football.  The secondary is top notch.  And Justin Smith and rookie OLB Aldon Smith can provide a lot of pass rush.

The real question of the day is: Can they provide enough pressure to stop the Stafford to Johnson touchdown train?  I don't think so.  The Lions will again find tough sledding in the run game as Willis is truly special...but nobody can cover Johnson and Backus has been able to handle Justin Smith in the past.

Just like every other week, if the Lions can keep Stafford healthy and playing the whole game, I like the Lions chances.

Advantage: Detroit

This is going to be a close slobber-knocker type game, but I just feel like this is the season the Lions are really going to trounce all of those old embarrassing streaks...like losing to the 49ers for the last 12 years...

Prediction Detroit 28, SF 27