Halfway through the Season....This Won't Hurt a Bit

Well, the Lions are halfway through their 2009 season and things are not looking good (which is about normal.) Their 1-7 record now means the Lions are 2-30 in their last 32 games. This is one of the most pathetic runs in NFL History.

At the start of the season I predicted four victories, which I thought was being conservative but of course the Lions could not even meet these lowered expectations. They even had a chance to pull a victory against the nearly as hapless St. Louis Rams but came up on the wrong end of a 4th quarter touchdown.

So even though there has been improvement, it's been extremely incremental and it's why I loved this passage from the NY Times 5th Down Blog.

The Lions, like the real estate market, are improving so slowly that it takes detailed analysis to measure their advances. Last year they allowed 8.8 yards per pass attempt; this year it’s down to 7.9. Opponents averaged 5.1 yards per rush, but the Lions have shaved that figure to 4.8. Their third down percentage has risen from 28.8 percent to 39.6 percent. Quoting these modest improvements is like cheering a 0.05 percent gain in housing values while upside-down on a half-million dollar townhouse mortgage, but Lions fans and Realtors know that bottoming out is more a process than an event. The Lions face the Vikings and host the Browns after they leave Seattle. They’ll go 1-2 over this stretch.