Lions drop to 0-15 with blowout loss to Saints

The woeful Detroit Lions just can’t buy a break this year.  Entering the game 0-14, they had what appeared to be on paper an excellent chance to put one in the win column against a New Orleans Saints team that had struggled to a 1-6 record away from the Crescent City.  Unfortunately, a number of Lions players came down with the flu in the week prior to the game and the Saints took advantage of the situation to post a 42-7 victory.

The loss made history of the wrong sort for Detroit, who became the first team in NFL history to post a 0-15 mark for the season.  Until now, the 1976 Tampa Bay Bucs were the low water mark for seasonal performance as they finished at 0-14.  With the season now two games longer, the Lions have the dubious distinction of owning the worst start to a season in NFL history and must win next week to become only the second winless team in NFL history.

The Lions are past the point of trying to analyze and rationalize what went wrong in their games—they’re now resigned to embarrassment and apologies.  QB Dan Orlovsky—who had suffered with the flu and was up late throwing up the night before the game—had this candid assessment of his team’s performance:

"Awful, embarrassing. We stunk. Any bad adjective you can use, throw it in there."

Center Dominic Raiola addressed the possibility of the team finishing 0-16:

"It's very real. It's right there in front of us. "It's pretty sad that it’s come to this."

The Saints were eliminated from a potential playoff berth last week and used this opportunity to take out some frustrations on an overmatched opponent.  Drew Brees threw for 351 yards and two TD, and the team rushed for four more scores.  The Saints were up 14-0 after the first quarter, 28-7 at halftime and 42-7 at the end of three before they eased up during the final period. 

Even by the low standards of the 2008 season, it was an epically poor performance by the Lions defense.  In addition to the passing yardage and the final score, the Saints scored on their first six possessions and never punted during the game.  New Orleans added 186 yards rushing to finish with 532 yards of total offense and in the process amassed 32 first downs to 15 for the Lions.  Until Brees took a knee on the final play of the game, the Saints had gone 11-11 on third down conversions.

In addition to losing their first 15 games this year, the Lions dropped their last game in 2007 giving those losses in sixteen straight regular season games.  They’ve also lost 22 of their last 23 as well as eight straight at home.  To avoid a 0-16 season they’ll have to win at Green Bay next Sunday and the cards are most definitely stacked against them.  Had they drawn a playoff team in their final assignment there’s a chance that they’d face a team looking to rest their starters.  Instead, they’ll take on a 5-9 Packers team playing for nothing more than pride and to avoid the ignominy of being the only team to lose to the Lions this season.   History doesn’t offer much hope either—the Lions haven’t won at Green Bay in 16 years.

Despite their elimination from the playoffs, the Saints will have a reason to show up for their final home game against Carolina next Sunday—Drew Brees needs only 402 yards to break Dan Marino’s 1984 record for most passing yards in a season (5,084).