Lion's Remarkable in Disatrous Loss Vs. Vikings

The Lion's have had some memorably spectacular collapses throughout the years, especially during Team President Matt Millen's checkered tenure. The mere fact the team is 21-64 during that tenure speaks volumes to their amazing ability to snatch defeat from the gaping maw of victory. However, few Lion's losses will ever be be remembered as being more tragic, or potentially catastrophic to their future, than this loss to Minnesota which came at a time when the team so badly needed to chalk up a victory.

Few team's have the ability to so methodically squander away a fourteen point fourth quarter lead. Few team's can feature so profound an inability to salt away a game and lose in a manner that consistently defied all odds. Fumbles, penalties, interceptions and general ineptitude formed the means in which the Lion's collapsed on Sunday. In my eyes, the fact that Jared DeVries improbably blocked a PAT attempt, preserving a meager 1 point lead late in the game, should have been enough of a tide-turning play for the Lion's to emerge victorious. Instead they continue on a losing course that shows no immediate signs of ceasing.

Most troubling for me, besides the rash of injuries to the team's starter's (Damien Woody, Fernando Bryant, Roy Williams, Kevin Jones, Shaun Cody, and Paris Lenon all missed significant playing time), was the Jekyll-like transformation of one of the team's few bright spots, QB Jon Kitna, into a stumbling, bumbling turnover-generating parody of himself late in the game. Through his obvious desperation and struggle to find victory, he effectively became a Lion's QB before our very eyes.

The Lion's are well on their way to finding themselves with another top 5 draft pick in the 2007 draft. In a best case scenario, the Lion's will finish 6-5 and move Matt Millen's career record as president to 27-69 in 96 games. This should be a strong enough body of evidence for the Ford's to be able to determine that they can ill afford to place the future of their franchise into such incapable hands any longer, I hope.