Detroit Lions vs San Diego Chargers: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

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Matthew Stafford interceptions

Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Matthew Stafford looked like a completely different quarterback in the second half than the one we saw at camp, at preseason and in the first half of Sunday’s game. One concern here is that Stafford may be hurt after taking a helmet to the arm on his first interception that was your run of the mill Matthew Stafford freak occurrence interception. The second one is that the Lions may still not be on the same page as we saw in Stafford’s second interception when he essentially played catch with a charger defender.

The one positive to take away from this is that Matthew Stafford seemed more maddeningly upset in the post game conference than I have ever seen him in his seven-year career. There’s no question this guy has had enough with how things have gone over that time. He must step up with a vengeance.

Joe Lombardi’s play calling

At first it appeared that Lombardi was calling a good game and once the Lions went up 21-3 and it was time to stick the dagger in the Chargers back and twist it, the Lions went conservative and left their two biggest play makers out o the game. If I would have told you on Saturday that Tate and Johnson would combine for six receptions and 63 yards, you would have told me ‘they will lose” and I would have said “duh.”

It’s week one and Joe Lombardi might as well be sitting on the sun. That’s about how hot his seat should be right now.

The entire second half

You know the scope by now. The Lions turned into a horrible team in the second half and the Chargers made all the right adjustments to score 30 unanswered points and put the Lions in the position they are in today where all the questions are back and the prognosticators are picking against the Lions all week. The Lions need to fix this, and fix it fast. If they cannot, they will just be another team that looked phenomenal in camp and preseason but never lived up to their potential.

Mike Payton is an Editor at SideLion Report. He is from Holland, Michigan by way of Warren, Michigan. He considers himself to be obsessed with the Detroit Lions. Mike’s work has been featured on ESPN Radio, Fox Sports Radio, CBS Sports Radio and si.com. Mike is also a weekly contributor on It is what is with Sean Baligian on ESPN 96.1 and a contributor for The Holland Sentinel. Follow Mike Payton on Twitter@SLR_Mike

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