What would a Detroit Lions victory over the Patriots mean?

Much to my friend’s annoyance, I am the realistic fan. The man he often calls ‘Spock’ because of what he refers to as an emotional detachment from a team I claim to love. When I was radical enough to say that the lack of any improvement over the course of this past preseason disturbed me and caused some concern, he told me to stop killing his anticipatory buzz for the commencement of the Matt Patricia era.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that I would have given anything for those doubts to be completely unfounded, it has instead become the nightmare all Lions fans are now living.

While my friend was being horrified by the way the New York Jets dismantled and destroyed the Lions in the opener, I found myself seeing the same problems I had witnessed in the preseason. The Lions defense was still making fundamental errors in their assignments which allowed the Jets ground game to eat them up.

Meanwhile, the offense sputtered even worse than it had during their lackluster exhibition play. The Jets claimed they knew what the Lions were doing and played like it. Yet whether that was the case or not, the offense still just seemed to be out of sync.

Last week against San Francisco the Lions brought a better effort. They were still inconsistent in all phases of the game, especially the run defense, but found themselves in position to steal a game that quite frankly neither team deserved to win.

Yet to the victors goes the monkey off their back. And to the losers, the scrutiny and pressure continue to multiply. Unfortunately, the Lions are those losers.

But what if they play relatively well and find a way to beat Matt Patricia’s old team? What if they find a way to stare down Tom Brady without blinking? Could a win against these all-powerful Patriots really be the answer to all Detroit’s ailments?