Detroit Lions Week 12 Song of the Game: “All Alone” by Gorillaz

Oh sure, everyone else who writes the Lions Song of the Game gets to talk about victories and optimism here and there and I have to deal with stink eggs.

November is coming to an end and the Lions may have just watched their shot at the division drive away; Sunday did no favors for the Lions wild card hopes either. All around a pretty miserable end for the month, especially with the final stretch before us and surmounting difficulties.

Vikings-Lions Song of the Game: “All Alone” By Gorillaz

I don’t think an album has stuck with me quite like “Demon Days” has. It was a perfect mesh of producers, rappers and musical artists, and I could listen to the thing front to back without ever tiring or skipping a track. It’s a beautiful piece of art that caught the mid-aughts perfectly.

“All Alone” is immediately preceded by the track “November Has Come,” which is probably a sign there.

But if there’s anything about the Thanksgiving game, it’s the fleeting hope that the Lions could have had a chance to match a Vikings team now playing far better than they were earlier in the year. That fleeting hope kept fans hopeful for a blow against the evil wintry state and its garishly-colored team, although deep down there wasn’t much to go on. The Lions closed the gap late and got back within shouting distance, but that ain’t good enough.

“Snatch a piece of my wonderin'
Distant-far like yonderin'
Skin of my tooth like, seat of my boot like
Fly in my soup like, "Where's the waitress?"
Can I take this, really, can I finish this?
These years and all these graces
It's my mistake, I'll make it”

“All Alone” is about false hope revealed, and if there was a fine enough day of hope-dashing, Thanksgiving played the part. The Lions were outclassed by the Vikings defense and Case Keenum’s throwing ability, and the latter is something that I still can’t respect happening. Guys like Case embarrass you for one year and then turn into a pumpkin, glass slipper and all, a month or two after they’ve laid you flat.

And I suppose that the bridge at the end sums up where I’m at with the Lions right now. I don’t really see many scenarios where this turns into a happy ending and the Lions ride off into the playoffs. It could still happen, but as I’ve been saying to Jeremy on the PODcast, that kind of a positive slant isn’t something I really want to hear about or hold out for unless it actually comes to happen.

“Close your eyes and see
When there ain't no light
All you'll ever be, come and save the night
Cause I don't believe
When the morning comes, it doesn't
Seem to say an awful lot to me”

As Ryan said in the last Song of the Game, this outcome would determine the path the Lions had before them, and it didn’t have to be pretty as long as they survived. They didn’t, it wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t enough. There’s some great positives to this team (Marvin Jones Jr. is a bowling ball! A’Shawn Robinson blocked a PAT and he’s so big and nasty and I love him so much) and there’s plenty to keep building on, but right now there’s about a month to play and too many teams shoving for the playoff spot for this Lions team to get in.

They’d have to play out of their minds down the stretch and get a spoonful of help from some other teams, and that’s not enough to get all that hopeful for right now.

Note: Week 3’s choice of “Sober” by Tool has been replaced by “Popcorn” by Hot Butter because Tool is not currently available on the platform and “Popcorn” is hilarious.