Win or loss a weekly theme coming out the back end of Lions games continues to be whether or not they’re a ‘dirty’ team.
This weekend was no exception after their 37-13 loss to the Chicago Bears Sunday afternoon.
ESPN reporter Jeff Dickerson took his own shots at the Lions in his piece entitled “Five Things We Learned: Bears-Lions”. In the article Dickerson labeled the Lions as ‘reckless’ and ‘dirty’.
5. We appear to be witnessing the annual Lions’ slide: When was the last time Detroit played in a postseason game? Oh yeah, January 8, 1999. All the late hits, dirty play, trash talk and false bravado can’t change the fact Detroit has lost three of four and is trending downward in the NFC. Maybe the Lions should win a playoff game for the first time in 12 years before they act like Super Bowl champs. Every good team plays with toughness, aggressiveness and confidence, but Detroit is reckless, which is a clear reflection — not to mention an indictment — of their head coach Jim Schwartz. Right now, it’s starting to look like the same old Lions. Great start. Poor finish. The one difference is this group has the talent to right the ship, but until they clean it up, I suspect it won’t happen.
The Lions don’t need me or anyone defending them but this consistent talk of them being ‘dirty’ is just getting silly. The national media needs to be aware that as much as this may be a transitional year for the Lions (which it is) it is also a statement year as well. No other franchise had to go through what the Lions did and no one can truly understand that other than the organization and the Lions fans themselves.
Ref: Mlive.com, ESPN, Booth Newspapers (image)