ITPV » The collapse of the Detroit Lions is essentially complete.

There’s still one more game to go Dexter Williams Jersey , but the Lions are now assured of their first last-place finish since 2012 after a 27-9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Detroit actually dominated the first 25 minutes or so, but the Lions allowed Minnesota’s Kyle Rudolph to catch a Hail Mary touchdown with embarrassing ease with no time remaining in the first half.That play put Detroit behind for good.“Each game is different. That’s part of the frustrating part,” Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford said. “It’s not one thing, you say, ‘OK, let’s go fix that and we’ll be fine.’ It’s just, it’s tough to win games in the National Football League and for one reason or another, execution and playmaking, we haven’t done enough of it.”Detroit (5-10) will end up in the NFC North cellar for the first time since going 4-12 in 2012 under Jim Schwartz. The Lions fired coach Jim Caldwell after going 9-7 last season, and in the first year under Matt Patricia, they will end up with a worse record than in any of Caldwell’s four seasons in Detroit.One of the low points of Caldwell’s tenure came in 2015 Rock Ya-Sin Jersey , when Aaron Rodgers threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Richard Rodgers with no time remaining to give Green Bay a 27-23 win over the Lions. Detroit seemed ill prepared for that play, and the defense wasn’t much better Sunday when Minnesota tried it.“We just have to get a little bit better from an alignment standpoint, we have to get some of those guys in better position,” Patricia said. “Get the guy who caught the ball boxed out and get him out of there. So, a couple details there.”Aside from that Hail Mary, it wasn’t a bad performance by the Lions on defense. They held Minnesota (8-6-1) without a first down for the whole first quarter, and Detroit was up 9-0 in the second.The game turned when the Lions left Adam Thielen all alone on third-and-17, and Kirk Cousins found him for a 40-yard gain. That set up a touchdown with 1:32 left in the half.Minnesota got the ball back, and the Vikings made it to the Detroit 44 with 2 seconds left. Cousins had plenty of time to throw to the end zone, and Rudolph made the catch without even falling down.Detroit managed only 74 total yards in the second half. The offense was without rookie running back Kerryon Johnson and receiver Marvin Jones, both on injured reserve.The Lions dropped their opener at home to the New York Jets http://www.clevelandbrownsteamonline.com/anthony-zettel-jersey , 48-17 back in September. Their home finale Sunday was similar.“We just have to be better as a team and even next year, it’s not going to get any easier,” defensive lineman Ricky Jean Francois said. “We’re going to keep playing playoff teams, now you have to figure out how to beat playoff teams. Don’t even look at the season, just look at playoff teams.” Five weeks and one day after a blown call called into question the legitimacy of the NFC Super Bowl representative, the NFL’s Competition Committee will discuss possible ways to prevent a repeat of that outcome.Mark Maske of the reports that the members of the league’s rule-recommending body will discuss on Monday the possible expansion of instant replay, which could extend to pass interference and other so-called judgment calls. Two hours have been budgeted to the discussion, which will surely feature some members (like Saints coach Sean Payton) arguing zealously for change and others (like Broncos G.M. John Elway, Cowboys COO Stephen Jones, and Falcons CEO Rich McKay) counseling in favor of caution.Although much of the media assumes (incorrectly) that the Competition Committee has binding influence when it comes to these subjects, any rule changes hinge on whether 24 owners vote for the proposal. Owners can — and often do — reject the proposals of the Competition Committee. Owners also can go off the board http://www.detroitlionsteamonline.com/jahlani-tavai-jersey , if they choose, adopting ideas that the committee didn’t even suggest.And as to the concern about “unintended consequences,” it’s for the stewards of the game to think proactively to identify the potential consequences and to engineer the rules to avoid them. That’s what they’re paid to do, and with legalized gambling spreading, they have every reason to do it. Eventually, there will be an officiating controversy that attracts the attention of Congress, given the amount of wagered money that will change hands based on the mistake.When that happens, either the league will clean up its mess, or Congress will clean it up. And the NFL surely won’t like the Congressional solution.