Detroit Lions must overcome Arizona collapse to beat the Chargers

The Detroit Lions abysmal ability to turn victory into a tie in Arizona may be painful, but it’s time to focus on the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Detroit Lions traveled into the Arizona desert last Sunday and dropped a bomb on the Cardinals. Then for good measure, they bombed themselves to help aid a Cardinal comeback resulting in a 27-27 loss.

I know, technically that’s called a tie, but as difficult as it is to make the NFL playoffs, especially for the Lions, that tie basically is a loss.

If they want to see the playoffs, they will now not only need to win every game on their schedule they’re supposed to, but now they need to win a couple they weren’t.

Earlier this week I heard a certain radio personality wanting to burn this franchise to the ground or at least have a player on this team step up and lash this locker room with some competitive sparks a la Tom Brady.

Well, we did get some of that in Arizona when Matthew Stafford had his sideline tirade after the infamous time out cost them a first down and an opportunity to ice the game. I personally don’t have a problem with a respected member of this team igniting a flame under this roster, but it takes more than competitive flame to win in the NFL or any major sport.

It also takes execution.

And right about now many of you are just fine with the idea of executing this team. However, despite that awful feeling crawling through the pit of our stomach as we saw the inevitable unravel before our eyes in the Arizona desert, teams simply don’t win without executing their game plan efficiently.

As a matter of fact, ‘efficient’ doesn’t mean perfection. It simply means making minimal mistakes and maximizing your results as much as possible. Which is much better than piddling away a lead they had painstakingly built through the first three quarters while actually looking pretty good doing so.