So close, and yet...same old Lions

Bumped from the diaries... I couldn't have said it better myself. The Lions were literally 18 seconds away from having a shot at making the playoffs.

Look at the standing, and you'll see a 9-7 team getting into the playoffs, with the NY Giants holding the top wild card spot at 10-5 currently, likely to finish at 10-6 after the Patiorts complete thie historic season. And then there are the Lions, currently at 7-8 on the heels of their devastating collapse after the "almost-had-us-believing" 6-2 start.

For the first time in forever, specifically since Paul Edinger's 50+ yard field goal paved the way for the Matt Millen error...I mean, era, Lions fans can actually indulge in a game of what might have been without completely deluding themselves.

The Lions will finish a game, or at worst, two out of the playoffs, and there are certainly two games on thisyear's schedule that could or should have gone a different way. Obviously, other teams can whine about Lions victories that they might have and probably should have taken (Tampa Bay comes to mind), but I'm looking at the Lions close calls here.

The two I'm thinking about are the games against the Giants and the Cowboys. In the first, it was an ugly game all around, but the Lions, down 16-10 late in the second half, had the ball twice, two chances to take it down the field and to finish the Giants. It was one of the games that could have had a domino effect, sending the Giants tumbling to another collapse, and Tom Coughlin to the unemployment line, but it wasn't to be. Twice in the final minutes, Jon Kitna turned to the 5'10" Shaun McDonald in lieu of Roy Williams or the 6'5" Calvin Johnson. The first time, the qb threw a jump ball to McDonald, who happened to be defended by a guy 6 inches taller than he. Short story maddening, the taller guy won the jump. That's usually how those things go.

The second, and last gasp attempt to McDonald occurred in Giants territory. A few more yards, and you haev a conceivable attempt at a hail mary. But instead, the ball goes through McDonald's hands, and the Giants escaped Ford Field with a victory they sorely needed, and used it to catapult themselves into the playoffs. I figure their stay there with be short, but they're in, and the Lions, well....

The second maddening game came against the team that will end the season with the best record in the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys. Say all you want about jason Witten, but if you stuff Terrell Owens and hold Crayton down and keep Barber in check, and have Jason Hanson lining up a 35 yarder that would essentially put the game out of reach, and have Witten fumble at the goal line when the Cowboys were on the verge of taking a lead with a few short minutes to go and then have Romo fumble in their last gasp attempt and have that fumble go straight to Paris Lenon....you'd think the Lions could win that game.

But no. Sadly, no. Maddeningly, all too familiarly, not so much. It's the Lions. And as is their wont, they found a way to lose to the Cowboys, and Jason Witten. And Jessica Simpson's boy toy.

Maybe a word could be said about the Arizona Cardinals game, but negative rushing yards rerally doesn't cut it in the National. Football. League. But those two games above, they definitely fit into the category of woulda coulda shoulda, had to have it when you already did most of the work types of games that in previous years could be overlooked because the Lions were nowhere close to the playoffs. But this year, they hurt all the more, just because the Lions were right there in the playoff chase, because they were 6-2 at one point, and now face the very good possibility of finishing, yet again, under .500. And because, dammit, at 6-2, they almost had us believing.....not quite, but almost....and that, for a Lions fan, is more than we could say for a long time.

But after all, these being the same old Lions, we're left with the refrain, hey maybe next year thye might be able to sneak into the playoffs.