Bears @ Lions: the 2009 finale

[ajaX82]

So it is, the end of the year. And what a year. Injuries, poor play, shimmers of hope and glory quickly squashed....typical Lions football.

I dont want to pay #1 money, but #2 i can handle. So here to a St. Louis and Detroit loss sunday. Happy new year!

[Liqourish]

I'm happy with #2 considering the year we had. My preseason prediction was 3 wins. We had chance after chance, but injury after injury knocked us back down. 2 wins isn't too bad. Especially if it nets us Suh or Berry.

I actually saw alot of progress this year. Not only from players but from the front office and coaching staffs.

Martin Mayhew did one helluva job in year one (including part of last season). Roy Williams for picks. Cory Redding for Julian Peterson. Even Kitna for Anthony Henry was good IMO. He cleaned house with the roster. Got rid of all the bad apples. He re-did the entire team right down to the logos and locker rooms to bring in a new era. He drafted extremely well. We had 5 draft picks (Stafford, Pettigrew, Delmas, Levy, Hill) start for us this year and 2 others (Brown, Follett) get legit playing time. And all 7 of them should help us moving forward. Don't forget some good FA signings like Mo Morris, Larry Foote, Grady Jackson, Will Heller, etc. Not big names, but they did well for us.

Jim Schwartz did as well as any coach could do with minimal talent and M*A*S*H ward of injuries. He started our #1 pick amid flurries of complaints. He broke the losing streak the 3rd week of the season when most expected then to continue losing to at least the bye week. He had the team playing toe to toe with teams like the Vikings, Steelers, and Cardinals. We were also in games against Chicago and Seattle until 3rd/4th quarter meltdowns/injuries. Let's not forget that Schwartz knows what this team means to the city. He showed this when he had the players go back on the field to celebrate with the fans after the Redskins game. He was the right man for the job. Another good move Mayhew did.

Our Rookies. What can you say? they exceeded my meager expectations for this season. Delmas is a beast. Levy surprised me. Stafford looks more ready than I was expecting. Pettigrew showed good blocking skills but has to catch the ball more. He had alot slip through his hands. If he can be a legit receiving threat as well as another olinemen, he's be a steal of the draft. Aaron Brown needs more plays. He showed great instincts and athleticism in the preseason and than started the season off slow. Zack Follett looked great on special teams for us. I'd like to see him play a little more on offense.

We need good health. I don't think any player stayed healthy the whole season. Well besides Jeff Backus. I don't know if it's just freak injuries, if the equipment isn't working, or if the game is slowing down too much that it gives the opposing team more time to hurt our players... but somethings gotta give.

So c'mon Lions... start 2010 off right.... with a loss. Oh and St. Louis.... I heard Jimmy Clausen looks stunning in gold and navy.

[Liqourish]

I was looking up some things and a few things popped out at me.

Calvin Johnson is 102 yds away from another 1,000+ yd season.
Louis Delmas is 11 tackles away from 100 for the season.
Aaron Brown is 102 yds away from 1,000+ yds in kick returns.

Delmas probably won't get 11 tackles in the game, but it's impressive the season he's had.

Calvin caught for 133 yds against the bears in Chicago this season, but he had Stafford throwing to him. I don't know if he'll get 100+ yds with either Culpepper or Stanton in there.

[Bartender]

great couple of post Liq.

[Liqourish]

Lions sold out their final game at home against the Bears.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100101/SPORTS0101/1010384/1126/rss14/Lions-reach-sellout--will-play-Bears-on-local-TV

The Lions reached a sellout Thursday for Sunday's season finale against Chicago, meaning the 1 p.m. game will be televised locally on Fox.

The Lions had only about 1,000 tickets unsold 24 hours before Thursday's 1 p.m. deadline to reach a sellout and televise the game.

The Lions sold out four of their eight home games this season.

Considering Michigan's economy and going 0-16 last year, selling out half our home games isn't too shabby.

If we draft well and bring in some linemen, I think the Lions will go back to selling out every game.

After looking at the standings and the strength of schedule, no matter what, the Lions get the 2nd pick in the draft. If that's legit and I'm not imagining things, the Lions could beat the Bears at home, finish 3-13 and break the losing streak against division rivals without it affecting their draft status.

I wouldn't mind starting 2010 off with a win. I'm not expecting a win. But I wouldn't mind starting this decade off on the right foot.

[TSE]

Martin Mayhew did one helluva job in year one (including part of last season). He cleaned house with the roster. Got rid of all the bad apples. He re-did the entire team right down to the logos and locker rooms to bring in a new era. He drafted extremely well.

I beg to differ. None of those statements are true. We are losing each and every year and it's going to continue as long as our GM skills are at the bottom of the league. Mayhew has done a disastrous job and he has cleaned up virtually NOTHING. We need just as much house cleaning as we've ever needed, and arguably more. Mayhew's decisions have done a really good job of constraining our team and holding us back from breaking through.

[Bartender]

Man, shut up! He has done a great job imo. There is nothing else he could have done. Trades don't happen that often unless it's at draft time and he had one helluva draft class. You complained all year off waivers. Guess what fool... players on waivers are there for a reason. THEY SUCK! We were close in a **** load of games and that is 50 times better then how we were last year. There is nothing else I could have seen him do differently that would have made us better.


GOD you are annoying and you aren't as smart as you think you are.

[Liqourish]

^ HAHA I have him on my "foe" list so I can't see his post, but I LOL'ed at your response.

Probably blamed Martin Mayhew for the team only winning two games when if TSE was GM, we would have won 6 or 7 and he'd have us in my better financial shape. LMAO

As for the game today.... I'd like to see Calvin, Delmas and Aaron Brown reach their targets. And please god, no more injuries.

[Liqourish]

Well apparently, we still have a chance at #1. Which I'm not sure is legit. SOS still gives us the better pick but not by much. If. St. Louis wins at home against the 49ers and we lose to Chicago, they could (possibly) leap frog us in SOS and we'd get #1. This is only because we're so close to the Rams in SOS and SF is a better team than Chicago.

We're going to lose today. Culpepper is **** and even though Chicago is a bad team as well, we've got alot of injuries. The question is, can St. Louis win at home? Do they want to despite what their coach says publically? Do we want them to? Ndamukong Suh is hands down the best player entering the NFL draft that we've seen in a long time. Is he worth the money?

[Bartender]

Suh is the most dominant player to EVER enter the draft. But Berry is RIGHT there behind him. Tbh, I would rather have the consolation prize then the first pick. Too much money and decision making involved.

[TSE]

Man, shut up! He has done a great job imo. There is nothing else he could have done. Trades don't happen that often unless it's at draft time and he had one helluva draft class. You complained all year off waivers. Guess what fool... players on waivers are there for a reason. THEY SUCK! We were close in a **** load of games and that is 50 times better then how we were last year. There is nothing else I could have seen him do differently that would have made us better.


GOD you are annoying and you aren't as smart as you think you are.

How dare you say that and compliment our GM's decision making. I'm going to refute anybody that gives him credit, when he has done just about everything wrong and backwards. Short of going out of his way to pick obvious busts in the draft, he really couldn't have done things worse than he has. He has scored about 5% out of 100% of possible points. Mayhew is a failure as a GM, he has shown it for years (arguably anything before the last 2 is unclear how it connects to him, but for insiders of the organization they can connect stuff most likely), and he has negle3cted our team the last two and only dug us a deeper hole and still hasn't taken us out of it.

[Bartender]

Who were bust that we drafted? Please explain.

[Bartender]

His draft:
(1a) Stafford - Has shown excellent skills and will become a great QB one day if he gets protected.
(1b) Pettigrew - Is by far our best blocker on the line and has good hands and he's a good target.
(2) Delmas - Should be rookie defensive player of the year.
(3a) Levy - Great pick. Easily our MLB of the future.
(3b) Williams - Good punt returner and had some good signs of potential this year.
(4) Sammie Lee Hill - Don't know much about this guy.
(6) Aaron Brown - This guys been great this year in the time he's played. He'll be in our future.

ESPN said a week ago that we ended up having the 2nd best draft behind Green Bay.

[Bartender]

Let's add his off season moves to that list:
1. Signed Larry Foote who has been a force for us this year.
2. Traded for Julian Peterson who had a lot of big plays this year.
3. Cut all of Matt Millen's mistakes and bad apple's.
4. Signed Grady Jackson to mentor the young guys that he plans on bringing in.
5. Signed the best CB's that were available to us.
6. Traded for Dennis Northcutt who is a legit returner and downfield threat.


Yeah, he's done a hell of a job cleaning up Millen's mess.

[Bartender]

Aaron Brown is looking good in the slot.

[Bartender]

Aaron Brown and Maurice Morris are looking great today... and Chicago's run defense is pretty good. This is actually making me NOT like the idea of a power back. Jahvid Best or Dexter McCluster would prolly be my ideal RB's to draft. I don't wanna waste a top 3 round pick on a RB so I'll love to have Dexter. He is easily the fastest guy in this upcoming draft.

[Bartender]

Watchin' some things on this Dexter guy.. he's small, and doesn't have ideal size for the NFL, but boy is this guy BLAZING fast. He has a REAL REAL good head on his shoulders too. Very Christian and very committed to God.
The guys got so many HUGE TD runs of 40, 60, 70, 80 yards (Not to mention an 85 yard run against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl yesterday). This guy is a homerun hitter if he gets to the outside.

Plus he has dreads and when we draft guys with dreads, they turn out being really good football players lol (Ernie Sims and Louis Delmas)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb-chWh64Dc

[ajaX82]

well that fumble does it...2 wins it is

[ajaX82]

San Fran is gunna beat St. Louis too, which is perfect.

#2 pick here we come!

[Bartender]

Brown's having a monster game. 6th round pick doing work all year.