Every year in every sport, some unlikely team sprints out of the gate, winning games by the handful, and garners attention all over the nation. This season, it appeared to be the Detroit Lions, who won their first five games of the 2011 season (after winning four straight to close 2010)... They had definitely upgraded their roster, and had a swagger that hadn't been seen in, well, maybe ever.
But, as it goes, reality is sinking in, and our friends in the Motor City are watching their team fall apart, losing four of their last six games. All of the talk of a Cinderella season has mostly hushed, as the Lions have shown that they still aren't ready to play with the big boys yet. But, why does this week's Game Ball go to the Lions HC Jim Shwartz? Because it's his team that is allowing the Bears to stay in the playoff hunt...
Despite the Lions not having Ndomukong Suh on the field this week, the Lions still managed to play like an unsupervised child would on a playground... They committed penalty after penalty, knocked other players down in the sandbox, and pouted when when they got called on it.
Jim Schwartz doesn't appear to have any control over his team. Then again, maybe his team is just a reflection of what he deems appropriate... We don't really know what goes on behind closed doors, but we do know that the Lions are playing with such an undisciplined abandon that they are helping ailing teams such as the Bears stay in the NFC playoff hunt.
While we are falling victim to the injury bug, the Lions are just falling over their own feet. And we are okay with that... Jim Schwartz, we lift our glass to you, sir. We thank you for your contribution to the NFC.