Detroit Lions: 10 Observations from Sunday’s loss to Green Bay

9. Darrell Bevell deserves a serious look at the head coaching job at the end of the year.

It’s been suggested that Bevell needed to go 5-0 over the final month to have a real chance to shed the interim tag and be made the full time head coach. That’s such an unfair assessment for a lot of reasons:

• This defense is not his mess.
• Vince Lombardi would not go 5-0 with this roster.
• This part of the schedule is a gauntlet, and the Lions are underdogs in all remaining games. They face Derrick Henry, Tom Brady, and Dalvin Cook consecutively to finish up.

If Bevell snags even one more win, the heavens won’t open up and proclaim that our savior has arrived, but he should at least get legitimate consideration for the real gig. The results haven’t been much different (and they won’t be if Stafford is out), but there’s certainly a different feel to it so far.

At the very least, the offense is moving the ball pretty well, the team is playing hard, and there’s something intangible that wasn’t there before. That might not be enough of a case for the new GM to keep Bevell, but I do like what I’ve seen from him through two games.

10. The Lions are still alive in the eyes of the NFL Playoff Machine.

I do this for fun around this time every year, playing God on the NFL Playoff Machine at ESPN.com and figuring out ways to sneak the Lions into the playoffs until they’re mathematically eliminated from contention. As of now, the Falcons are the only NFC team who is officially out of it, and there are still a few more scenarios that allow a hypothetical 8-8 Lions team to sneak in.

Detroit goes on the road to face the first place Titans next weekend, without Matthew Stafford more likely than not. I’m not sure even the Playoff Machine has enough magic in its algorithm to save them at this point, but I’ll grab the sack of oranges and be right back on the couch to try this one more time next Sunday.