Yes, I think we have all been embarrassed by the Lions this season and their inability to close out a game. I am especially embarrassed when we're a single play away in so many games, and despite knowing what we have to do, players try to do too much. They run before catching the ball. They overpursue in the pass rush opening up scrambling lanes. They cause stupid penalties. They snap the ball when the QB isn't ready. The list is of dumb mistakes that the Lions have made this season is a long one, but that's not what I'm most embarrassed by.

TL;DR The Lions are better than you think, and it's because your brain is a vicious pattern-recognition machine that translates our 4-9 record into the past decade of misery. It's embarrassing to me that we've come so far as a team but we fans can't see it because things look bad right now.

I am embarrassed by all the "Lions fans" that seem to think that our team is a steaming pile of crap. Those double-digit leads we've blown the past few weeks? The teams they were against are 9-4, 11-2, and 9-4. Steaming piles of crap that have no leadership on the field, a coach that has lost the locker room, and have drafted poorly in the second round the past few years do not embarrass the Pack at Lambeau the way we did and scare the pants off the Texans on Thanksgiving.

Yeah, we're not where we wanted to be this season, but if I play what-if, I can turn our record upside down pretty easily. It takes no imagination to see the Lions as 7-6 this year, and if we were, I think there would be significantly less crowing. Think about how differently you would feel right now if our record said 7-6 and we were in the playoff hunt right now. Same crappy plays. Same crappy coaches. 3 more wins.

Now, if you can honestly say to me, no kidding, that you would be saying the exactly same things about our team regardless of fumbles bouncing into Packer arms, missing field goals by inches, horrific botched fake snap plays, the TD that wasn't, a backup Safety playing CB because of injuries, etc. then I think I know your PoD name (and it ends with "sun"). Last season where we got more than our share of lucky bounces, this season we're getting the opposite.

It's painful to watch. It's painful to think about. So, rather than thinking we have gotten unlucky, we look for something that "needs to change" in order for the team to get better. Politicians don't get elected by saying "we need to stay the course" when times are tough, and NFL coaches don't keep their jobs that way either. I am guilty of the same bias towards wanting something (ANYTHING!) to change, but looking at the team objectively, I can't say that a team we've played this season that is flat out better than the Lions. Last season, I couldn't say that.

To be clear, I'm not saying that nothing on the team needs to change. I'm not praising the coaches and their prowess at calling the wrong play at the wrong time. I'm not even saying that no one should lose their jobs. I'm just trying to say that this team looks more like a 7-6 playoff contender than a 4-12 top-10-pick-in-the-draft-for-a-decade. So, keep your chin up Pride. :-)

I know I'll get shouted down by all the groupthink that has taken hold since we started losing for saying all this, so go ahead guys. Let me know why I'm wrong.