…that the team is definitely not playoff bound, I don’t think it was unreasonable to expect consistent improvement or even signs positive signs that the team might be improving. Sunday’s game…however, was anything but positive. It was absolutely within reason to believe the Lions could have beat the Rams…they’re terrible. The frustration stems from those of us who actually believed the Lions were improving…which is a theory in serious jeopardy at this point.

but I still think we’re a better team than the Rams, and we should beat them at least 8 out of 10 times we play them, especially at home. I am lucky enough to be out of the blackout zone, so I got to watch the game, and nothing the Rams did made me feel they were the better team. The Lions lost that game. Stafford was very rusty, receivers played poorly, and the offensively line was terrible. I think all of those units underperformed to their true abilities. Not to mention stupid penalties and unforced errors ended productive drives early.

I don’t regret having confidence in the Lions in this game, because if they played next week, I would predict the same thing (although not as high-scoring as I predicted).

Coming off a bye week for christ’s sake!!!! Of course the optimism was high…. there should be none higher! Add in an O’fer team…..

A fucking bye week!!!

I think the underlying frustration here is that the Lions have appeared to step back the last two games [ at Green Bay and Vs St. Louis]. While some of the people here are looking for, and expecting, some Ws there are as many that just want to see progress from week to week. Green Bay was thought to be an aberration due to the numerous injuries and historically we have not done well up there, but this week we were looking for some better play.

I see no shame in losing to a better team that plays really well and without errors. But getting beat by a bad team that did not play all that well [from what has been reported] is difficult to take. Frankly, the last two games make the Chicago game look good. At least we made some positive plays in that one.
This last game all I am hearing about this game positively is Follet’s special team hit.
Are you kidding me?!? That’s all we have for a high point? That is embarrassing.

We all want to see this team move forward, not necessarily to win every week, but to be competitive and make some plays. I am still confident that we are collecting the right parts and will see much better performances than the last two games, but it is still damn frustrating to be back in the discussion as to who is the worst team in the NFL.

What is with the fans of the Lions?

I’m 23 years old, followed the Lions since I was VERY young. My father has been a fan his whole life. I watch games with him and he’s the same way as the majority of people seem to be here: when things are going well, showering praise, but the moment things don’t look good, he’s totally bashing everything and anything about the team.

If you’re so tired of it and you think we suck so bad, then what the hell are you watching the team for? Some sort of masochistic habit you developed over the years?

I UNDERSTAND WE ARE NOT AS GOOD AS WE’D LIKE TO BE. But don’t sit here and talk about the positives until we lose, then go on tirades about how terrible every facet of the team is. Nobody has any patience for the development of the team. Drives me nuts.

Go Lions.

The simple fact is the Lions beat themselves by playing down to the Rams level. Did I expect them to blow the Rams out? No way. Did I expect them to be competative and win? You bet.
As far as giggys post, I see where you are coming from. But I don,t think it was far fetched at all to expect the Lions to win, or at least be competative. I guess it is hard for me to swallow the thought that you can play strong against a strong team but do nothing against a sub par team. I get that the playoffs are a long ways away and I do agree that we have some great pieces in place for the future, Staff included. But there are some players on this team that need to step up and put in 110 percent. There are no excuses for that many missed tackles, dropped passes, and poor execution.
I can only speak for myself, and your right, there are some fans setting themselves up for disappointment. All I would like to see is week to week improvement, be competative in games, and give 110 percent. Lets hope we get that the rest of the year.

Last year at this time there was a reason to not be optimistic. We’re starting to come back down to earth, unfortunately.

That’s how fandom works. You can never trully be unbiased when it comes to your own team. However, the whole optimism thing is like a cycle. We are optimistic before games and realistic after them, when we lose. Plus, optimism is so much better than pessimism. Being a pessimist is so depressing, at least you can pretend things are better with optimism.

and start thinking about Seattle. Sunday is done and gone.