The vibes surrounding the Detroit Lions have not been good lately.
Detroit lost on Thanksgiving yet again, dropping a key divisional game to the Green Bay Packers that puts their division title hopes on life support at best. They’ve lost three of their last five games and are currently out of the NFC playoff picture at 7-5 with lots of ground to make up.
And, like usual, the injury bug has stung the Lions again.
Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown went down with an injury that will likely sideline him for at least this week, cornerback Terrion Arnold is out for the season with a shoulder injury, and safety Kerby Joseph has deleted his social media accounts following news that he has a “chronic” knee injury that can never heal.
Tight end Brock Wright could have a long-term neck injury with starter Sam LaPorta already out for the year. To top it off, the Lions were given false hope by the brief un-retirement of Frank Ragnow that ultimately ended as soon as it began after a failed physical for a grade 3 hamstring injury.
Things have hit a real low point for a team that was in Super Bowl conversations just a few short months ago. Now, they’ll have to turn things around like never before with a schedule that includes the NFC’s top two seeds the rest of the way.
Lions have to have major turnaround to finish out season
Things have been going the exact opposite way for the Dallas Cowboys in the vibes department as of late. They won their Thanksgiving game, a big time 31-28 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, and are currently sitting at 6-5-1, winners of their last three after a 3-5-1 start.
So when the two teams meet in Detroit this week for Thursday Night Football, it feels like a point of no return for both teams. The Lions are currently the NFC’s eighth seed with Dallas right behind them at nine. It’s almost a de facto playoff game.
“Our margin for error is very small right now,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “So, of course we’ve got to find a way to win, and we want to win. And I think, I go back to this, we just lost one. We’ve got to find a way to win this next one in front of us. And yeah, I mean, time’s running out.”
READ MORE: Lions workout five players amid serious end-of-season injury woes
Detroit’s offense hit a snag between October and November but has played better in its last two games, even with injuries on the offensive line. But now the defense has started to struggle, surrendering 31 points to Green Bay and 27 to the lowly New York Giants as the pass rush has been a non-factor.
Against a Dallas team currently leading the NFL in total yards and passing yards per game, that’s not good news.
The Cowboys are playing for their season as well, but after the trade deadline addition of defensive tackle Quinnen Williams gave new life to their defense, they’ve just beaten both of last year’s Super Bowl participants back to back. A team that once looked dead in the water after the bewildering Micah Parsons trade has since come roaring back.
On paper, this looks like a pretty good time to get the Lions and a bad time to play Dallas. Detroit just had a key home game that was instrumental for their division hopes on a national stage, and they lost. How does another one, still on a Thursday, against an even hotter team, after a week full of bad news from every angle, sound?
Campbell’s Lions aren’t in the business of feeling bad for themselves. They know they have no choice but to pick up the pieces and pillage on. But the season is quickly spiraling, and their meltdown could be all but cemented with another high-profile home loss on Thursday.
“Find a way to win the one in front of you and don’t get caught up in the rest of the stuff,” Campbell said. “That’s the bottom line. We’re in this business to win.”