Detroit Lions Week 15 Song of the Game: ‘Strangers’ by Portishead

“Ooh, can anybody see the light
Where the morn' meets the dew and the tide rises?”

For the second time in as many games, the Detroit Lions came away with a victory against the Chicago Bears. Sweeping a rival and improving their divisional record to 4-1 is something a team could typically hang their hat on, but the Lions don’t have time for that. The Lions don’t have time to sit back and admire their victory against the Bears in Week 15.

“Our focus is on one thing: Cincinnati,” said Jim Caldwell after Saturday’s victory.

Fans bemoan quips like this from a coach, especially from the mouth of Caldwell, but he’s right. His team can only focus on one obstacle at a time, and ignore the fact that the fate of their season isn’t even in their own hands at this point. But for everyone else, there’s light at the end of this season, and it’s conditional.

Lions-Bears Song of the Game: “Strangers” by Portishead

“Did you realize no one can see inside your view?
Did you realize for why this sight belongs to you?”

For Caldwell’s teams, it’s all about not getting too high or too low. Consistency and level-headedness describe the mindset of a Caldwell-led team, but some can’t see this, and if they do, they don’t value its intrinsic worth. They choose instead to point to the broken running game, the lack of a pass rush, or the inability to protect Matthew Stafford and call for the coach’s job.

By doing so, they willfully choose to ignore the absence of three starters along the offensive line by the game’s end and the hard-nosed effort put in by the linebackers to completely stifle a Bears running attack that imposed their way onto them the last meeting—this time holding the Bears to just 43 yards on 15 carries (2.87 yards per attempt).

“Done it warning, done it now
And it ain't real
Done it warning, done it now
'Cause it ain't real on this side”

And I get it: It was the lowly Bears who the Lions picked up a win against, but these are the types of games people always tell me I need to be worried about because “Caldwell won’t have the team ready,” or some other reason even less tangible than the last.

When the Lions win, it’s time for those who hashtag the words “Fire Caldwell” to footballsplain to me how it’s all fool’s gold. None of it is real, just a product of beating up on whichever inferior team of the week the Lions have. At this point in the season, for some fans, the wins aren’t real because they don’t guarantee them something, and they’re fearful wins will guarantee another year of Jim Caldwell as head coach.

A true doomsday scenario for some of you out there.

“Ooh, just set aside your fears of life
With the sole desire”

Bur for those of you struggling to find the good in this season, get back to the basics. Winning is good. Watching the team you root for and have some emotional capital invested in secure a victory is good. Those reasons alone should be plenty enough for you to cast your fears aside. Whether it be getting all the way back to the playoffs just to lose another game in the first round, or the thought of finishing 10-6 and still missing the playoffs, forget about all of it.

There’s one sole desire: The light at the end of the tunnel.

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.

To read the reasoning behind every choice this year, check out our Song of the Game archive.