Five reasons the Detroit Lions believe they can bounce back, win at Seattle

Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell and staff watch from the sidelines during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)

By Paula Pasche | The Oakland Press

PUBLISHED: January 2, 2017 at 1:16 p.m. | UPDATED: June 17, 2021 at 6:36 a.m.

ALLEN PARK >> While the Lions have lost three straight games, including on Sunday night to the Green Bay Packers, they certainly feel they belong in the playoffs.

It’s just they haven’t been playing their best.

The defense has allowed 30 or more points in the last two games after holding the previous eight opponents to 20 points or less.

PHOTOS FROM LIONS 31-24 LOSS TO PACKERS

Matthew Stafford has thrown five interceptions in the last four games after going three games without one. He does not blame the dislocated middle finger and the glove and splint he wears to protect it. At the same time, he’s missed on some throws that typically he would make.

The Lions have been out-scored in the second half in the last two games 42-10.

The Lions have not put together a full game in recent weeks and yet they move forward with determination.

Five reasons why they think they can turn the season around starting on Saturday night in Seattle in a wild-card playoff game:

1. Ending a regular season on a winning note would seem ideal heading into the postseason, but it’s not necessary. Caldwell was the offensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens in the 2012 season when they lost four of their last five regular season games and went on to win the Super Bowl. “Hope is not a strategy, you know, what we do is we look at what we can do best against these guys and put it together and go after it,” Caldwell said on Monday. “Anytime that you have an opportunity to play in the playoffs, just look at the history, there’s teams that you can rattle off – Giants, you can rattle off a number of different teams that have gone in and perhaps not had the best regular season that they’d like, but ended up getting themselves in position to really be a factor in the playoffs, so we’re not limited to it.”

2. The players had Monday off. When they come in Tuesday they need to hit a reset button. “It’s just a mindset for the most part and what we want to do is you’ve got to shake this thing off rather quickly and you’ve got to go after it. That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to preach to the guys. It’s a huge quantum shift mentally and you know, we’ve got to play like we’re capable of playing,” Caldwell said.

3. After a 1-3 start to the season, the Lions then won eight of nine. Now they need to get back on the winning track and get in playoff mode at the same time. “And going into this phase I think it’s kind of natural for it to reset much like the preseason and the regular season. The regular season to the playoffs it’s just a quantum shift mentally and they’ve got to move forward,” Caldwell said.

4. Seattle, known for its 12th man, can be a tough place to play. The Lions learned that early in the 2015 season. Still, they almost won that game and should have had a better chance at it except after a Calvin Johnson fumble at the one-yard line the ball was illegally batted out of the end zone..That happened with 1:51 left and the Lions behind 13-10. The officials screwed up the call. Had they called it correctly, the Lions would have gotten the ball back on Seattle’s one-yard line and certainly would have had a chance to win.

5. One of Caldwell’s goals is to get his team ready to play anytime, anywhere. For the second week in a row, they have a short time to prepare. Last week they went from Monday Night Football in Dallas to Sunday Night Football. This week they go from Sunday night to Saturday night in Seattle. “You know we’ve played short weeks several times, obviously here in the last couple weeks. We also do every year at Thanksgiving, so our guys are accustomed to it. We just have to make some adjustments in terms of how we practice and those kinds of things,” Caldwell said. “But now, you’ve got a Monday, Tuesday that you’re dealing with where there’s some recovery involved. It’s really just kind of one day, but if those guys are anything like me you get kind of wound up during the game. Afterward, takes you a little while to get wound down and you end up going to sleep about 2:15 in the morning. I’ve got to be back up at a pretty early hour, so I’m assuming that they probably are running on the same type of schedule. We have to mindful of what we think we can get out of them during the course of practice, yet we need the preparation to get ready for this game. So, we’ll make some adjustments and like we do every week on a short week. We think that will be more than adequate.”