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I'm pained to announce that the Lions ~~have been~~ will be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs for the eleventh straight year.

at Chicago Bears, loss
at home vs Philadelphia Eagles, loss
at Minnesota Vikings, loss
at Green Bay Packers, loss
at home vs St. Louis Rams, win
at New York Giants, loss
Bye
at home vs Washington Redskins, win
at home vs New York Jets, loss
at Buffalo Bills, win
at Dallas Cowboys, loss
at home vs New England Patriots, loss
at home vs Chicago Bears, win
at home vs Green Bay Packers, win
at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, loss
at Miami Dolphins, loss
at home vs Minnesota Vikings, loss

5-11 for the season. Hey, call me an optimist.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1752340/posts?page=165#165

Okay, so, I’m 5 for 5 on the Lions’ season so far. I’d picked them to lose to the Giants next week.

The Giants beat the Panthers (so today did the Bears), lost to the Cowboys (geez), lost to the Titans (geez), beat the Bears, and today beat the Texans. Both teams are starting to fire on all eight, so it could still be a decent game, and I’d love it to be the Lions’ first road win in, uh, a while, but I’ll stick with my earlier pick.

The Lions’ running game and passing attack is more balanced than I’ve seen it since the hillbilly was in charge, and the Lions defense will give Eli some trouble, but ever since I saw Eli escape from what looked like a sure sack in the Super Bowl and go on to complete the pass, and right after that to win the game, I’ve had a lot of admiration for his abilities.

The Redskins beat the Packers today — thanks! — and were just good enough to do that. They’ll be in Detroit in three weeks, and the Lions will be coming off the bye week. IOW, I think I’ll stick with that too. Wait and see if someone cools the Jets by that time — it sez here Randy Moss will become only the second NFL player to appear in consecutive Monday Night games, having been traded (the deadline is coming) to the Vikings, joining Favre’s over-the-hill-gang caucus up there. The Jets have won three straight, but look at who they beat.

The Bills are on the Jets Ws, and they lost again today, so I’m sticking with that as the Lions’ first road win.

The Cowboys may have turned a corner also, but the have been a streaky team, and the Lions have beaten them over the years. Another road loss? Probably stick with that one too.

The Patriots have been streaky. If the Lions have screwed me by winning at least half of their games by then...

My picks had been good, only bump in the road so far was that loss to Buffalo. With that loss goes the rest of the Lions' wins for the season, plus, the Packers have a hotter defense than anyone right now, and the Bears, well, there's no way the Lions will beat the Bears, a team that started strong, noodled around in the middle like they didn't mean it, and now are probably back on track.

The jackoffs that with stupid misconduct brought all those penalty yards on the Lions should NOT be traded, but benched; if they want to play, they have to pay the club. That would have a marvelously clarifying effect on their concentration and execution.

In memory, there's primacy (first in, longest remembered) and recency (last in, freshest in the mind); I think the Eagles will win the Super Bowl, IOW, the Packers would be my second choice to win the NFC and head to the big one. Hard to tell who they'll face from the AFC, there are four teams which have had consistent play and traded wins and losses this season (Jets, Patriots, Colts, Jaguars; the Titans could still come back, but they lost to the Redskins today in OT).

Should be fun to read all the snarky comments from fans of NFC South teams.


American Football Conference - 2010 Regular Season

AFC East Team	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA	Net Pts	TD	Home	Road	Div	Pct	Conf	Pct	Non-Conf	Streak	Last 5
New York Jets	8	2	0	.800	238	177	61	22	3-2	5-0	3-0	1.000	6-1	.857	2-1	3W	4-1
New England Patriots	8	2	0	.800	289	242	47	32	5-0	3-2	2-1	.667	7-2	.778	1-0	2W	4-1
Miami Dolphins	5	5	0	.500	172	208	-36	15	1-4	4-1	1-2	.333	3-4	.429	2-1	1L	2-3
Buffalo Bills	2	8	0	.200	213	276	-63	20	1-4	1-4	0-3	.000	1-6	.143	1-2	2W	2-3
AFC North Team	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA	Net Pts	TD	Home	Road	Div	Pct	Conf	Pct	Non-Conf	Streak	Last 5
Baltimore Ravens	7	3	0	.700	233	178	55	22	4-0	3-3	2-1	.667	6-2	.750	1-1	1W	3-2
Pittsburgh Steelers	7	3	0	.700	235	165	70	22	3-2	4-1	2-1	.667	5-2	.714	2-1	1W	3-2
Cleveland Browns	3	7	0	.300	192	206	-14	19	2-3	1-4	1-2	.333	2-5	.286	1-2	2L	2-3
Cincinnati Bengals	2	8	0	.200	215	262	-47	20	1-4	1-4	1-2	.333	1-6	.143	1-2	7L	0-5
AFC South Team	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA	Net Pts	TD	Home	Road	Div	Pct	Conf	Pct	Non-Conf	Streak	Last 5
Jacksonville Jaguars	6	4	0	.600	220	270	-50	22	4-2	2-2	2-1	.667	5-3	.625	1-1	3W	3-2
Indianapolis Colts	6	4	0	.600	268	216	52	27	4-0	2-4	1-2	.333	4-3	.571	2-1	1L	3-2
Tennessee Titans	5	5	0	.500	257	198	59	27	2-3	3-2	1-0	1.000	2-4	.333	3-1	3L	2-3
Houston Texans	4	6	0	.400	244	287	-43	25	2-3	2-3	1-2	.333	3-4	.429	1-2	4L	1-4
AFC West Team	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA	Net Pts	TD	Home	Road	Div	Pct	Conf	Pct	Non-Conf	Streak	Last 5
Kansas City Chiefs	6	4	0	.600	243	207	36	25	5-0	1-4	1-2	.333	4-4	.500	2-0	1W	3-2
Oakland Raiders	5	5	0	.500	238	223	15	24	4-1	1-4	3-0	1.000	3-3	.500	2-2	1L	3-2
San Diego Chargers	4	5	0	.444	239	197	42	29	3-1	1-4	0-2	.000	3-3	.500	1-2	2W	2-3
Denver Broncos	3	6	0	.333	203	252	-49	24	2-3	1-3	1-1	.500	2-5	.286	1-1	1W	1-4

National Football Conference - 2010 Regular Season

NFC East Team	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA	Net Pts	TD	Home	Road	Div	Pct	Conf	Pct	Non-Conf	Streak	Last 5
Philadelphia Eagles	6	3	0	.667	257	209	48	30	2-2	4-1	1-1	.500	4-2	.667	2-1	2W	4-1
New York Giants	6	3	0	.667	236	193	43	29	3-2	3-1	1-1	.500	5-1	.833	1-2	1L	4-1
Washington Redskins	5	5	0	.500	202	245	-43	20	2-3	3-2	2-1	.667	4-3	.571	1-2	1W	2-3
Dallas Cowboys	3	7	0	.300	229	271	-42	23	1-4	2-3	1-2	.333	2-5	.286	1-2	2W	2-3
NFC North Team	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA	Net Pts	TD	Home	Road	Div	Pct	Conf	Pct	Non-Conf	Streak	Last 5
Chicago Bears	7	3	0	.700	191	146	45	20	3-2	4-1	3-0	1.000	5-3	.625	2-0	3W	3-2
Green Bay Packers	7	3	0	.700	252	146	106	26	4-1	3-2	3-1	.750	5-2	.714	2-1	4W	4-1
Minnesota Vikings	3	7	0	.300	172	226	-54	20	3-2	0-5	1-3	.250	3-4	.429	0-3	2L	1-4
Detroit Lions	2	8	0	.200	234	237	-3	25	2-2	0-6	0-3	.000	2-6	.250	0-2	3L	1-4
NFC South Team	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA	Net Pts	TD	Home	Road	Div	Pct	Conf	Pct	Non-Conf	Streak	Last 5
Atlanta Falcons	8	2	0	.800	256	192	64	24	5-0	3-2	2-0	1.000	5-1	.833	3-1	4W	4-1
New Orleans Saints	7	3	0	.700	235	170	65	22	4-2	3-1	3-1	.750	6-2	.750	1-1	3W	4-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	7	3	0	.700	209	206	3	22	3-2	4-1	2-2	.500	5-2	.714	2-1	2W	4-1
Carolina Panthers	1	9	0	.100	117	252	-135	9	1-5	0-4	0-4	.000	1-7	.125	0-2	4L	1-4
NFC West Team	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA	Net Pts	TD	Home	Road	Div	Pct	Conf	Pct	Non-Conf	Streak	Last 5
Seattle Seahawks	5	5	0	.500	185	233	-48	17	3-1	2-4	3-1	.750	4-3	.571	1-2	1L	2-3
St. Louis Rams	4	6	0	.400	177	198	-21	16	4-2	0-4	1-2	.333	3-5	.375	1-1	2L	2-3
San Francisco 49ers	3	7	0	.300	160	219	-59	18	3-3	0-4	1-1	.500	1-6	.143	2-1	1L	3-2
Arizona Cardinals	3	7	0	.300	188	292	-104	21	2-2	1-5	1-2	.333	2-5	.286	1-2	5L	0-5

x - Clinched playoff y - Clinched Wild Card z - Clinched Division * - Clinched Division and Homefield Advantage

from message 165, with the ones where I was wrong underlined:

I'm pained to announce that the Lions ~~have been~~ will be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs for the eleventh straight year.

at Chicago Bears, loss
at home vs Philadelphia Eagles, loss
at Minnesota Vikings, loss
at Green Bay Packers, loss
at home vs St. Louis Rams, win
at New York Giants, loss
Bye
at home vs Washington Redskins, win
at home vs New York Jets, loss
at Buffalo Bills, win
at Dallas Cowboys, loss
at home vs New England Patriots, loss
at home vs Chicago Bears, win
at home vs Green Bay Packers, win
at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, loss
at Miami Dolphins, loss
at home vs Minnesota Vikings, loss
5-11 for the season. Hey, call me an optimist.

They have three wins on the season, they now have a shot at a fourth win vs Miami (six wins on the season, losses to GB and Bears, beat MN, blown out by some quality teams) and a fifth vs the Vikings (with Favre off his game or altogether out). It would be just like the b@$+@rds to win all three remaining games and screw up their draft picks.