They're just getting started.

Detroit 24, Chicago 13 - 5-0(2-0 NFC North)

Words do not do this justice. Superlatives can't capture the entire essence of what's going on. Fans of other teams wouldn't understand. Monday Night. Pfft, big deal. Everyone's been there. Well, almost everyone. Except for the Lions. It's been a while. Ten years. Thirteen since they last won on Monday night. There's a lot of seasons of ineptitude interspersed in the years since. They went 0-16, remember? It wasn't even 3 full years ago when this roster was the worst in NFL history. Now? Now this. On October 10, 2011, the Lions squared off against their most hated rival and came away victorious. More importantly, they came away with a newfound respect from the rest of the league and its fans. No longer are the Lions our secret savior - the entire nation is onto their tricks, and the names Best and Megatron and Stafford and even Willie freaking Young were forced down the throats of everyone watching around the country. The roster isn't merely good, it's great. It's official - there's no denying it. Why should you? The Detroit football Lions are 5-0, and they've yet to play a complete, A-grade game yet. Last night was the closest they got to such an effort so far this season. They threw the ball efficiently, ran the ball extremely well, and there aren't enough condolences that can be extended to Jay Cutler for the beating he took.

He was pulverized. Destroyed. A symbolic effigy crucified as a decade's worth of misery slid off the backs of every fan in the state of Michigan. The Lions have had enough, and they took it out on Cutler tonight. His offensive line did him no favors, and he played a very good game, but he had to play the perfect game to survive the waves of Detroit defenders coming at him on every play - and he simply couldn't do it. Noone can. When Suh, Williams, and Vanden Bosch end up taking a backseat to guys like Willie Young and Lawrence Jackson rushing the passer - you know this team has something special brewing. The defense turned out exactly as everyone had hoped in the preseason- sure, they don't have any All-Pro's in the secondary, but the pressure they provide up front masks any potential weaknesses they have downfield. This is what they were hoping for when they selected Nick Fairley thirteenth overall. A few years down the line, when teams are splurging fifty million on other Asomugha's to shore up their secondary, the Lions will continue to sign Chris Houston and Eric Wright-types to plug holes that Fairley, Suh and Cliff Avril intend to hide on any given pass rush. This is the master plan. This is what Mayhew and Schwartz wanted to build. And it's being built faster than even the most ardent Lions supporters expected.

Expectations is a fuzzy word. Most would say Jahvid Best has fallen short of expectations since the Lions moved up to draft him in the first round last year. He produced plenty of catches and a nice first few games his rookie season, but slowed down considerably as the season went on and averaged just 3.2 yards per carry. Of course, he also played through two excruciating turf toe injuries that often shelves players for entire seasons, but to Best's credit he has not used any of it as an excuse as he continued to try and find his way in this offense. On Monday night, you saw why guys like Jahvid Best are a priority to this organizations brain trust. In an increasingly pass-heavy league where the run is more of a compliment to the air attack, lightning-fast back like Jahvid Best are at a premium for their ability to make opponents pay for providing the slightest bit of daylight. With only a few minutes to go in the third quarter, the Lions Oline opened up a huge hole at their own twelve yard line, and Best was in the endzone 88 yards later.

The Lions have guys like Best and Calvin Johnson who can turn an entire game around with one play if you make the slightest of mistake. That's where the value lies in this football team - with it's playmakers offensively and defensively. The difference now is the rest of the roster has caught up to make the plays necessary to play a solid sixty minutes of football and give themselves a chance against most teams. Any team, really. Ask yourself: do you think ANYBODY looks forward to playing the Lions at Ford Field anymore with the sort of homefield advantage they displayed yesterday? 9 false start penalties, and it didn't matter how early they jumped because they still lost everyone one-on-one matchup in the trenches. The Lions are 5-0 now, and as long as Jim Schwartz keeps these guys focused, they could be on their way to playing meaningful games in January. With Nick Fairley and a rejuvenated Jahvid Best on board, they're just getting started.

A few notes:

• I told you so about that Willie Young guy. He made life a nightmare for whatever unfortunate soul had to block him. The coaches seemed to increase his snaps this week, and he responded with a sack and plenty of pressure. The penalties were the only thing holding him back from a perfect game.
• I just wrote a whole article without barely mentioning Matt Stafford. He continues to efficiently scan the field and take some pretty good chances deep. He was inches off the receivers on a few nicely drawn-up downfield strikes.
• Can we finally put this "we need an every-down back" thing to rest? More and more teams around the league have followed the lead of teams like New England, Green Bay, and New Orleans that don't find solace in trying to find one back who does everything for them. Instead, the value is found in mixing a number of backs and utilizing their strengths differently. Jahvid Best is a great receiver and and sensational in space - if the Oline opens up a hole for him, he can make long TDs happen that most backs can't. When Mikel Leshure comes back next year, the offense will be even more dynamic and creative. In the new pass-heavy NFL, the running game acts more like a compliment anyways - and that's exactly how the run game serves the Lions. On Monday Night, they showed they have the power to impose their will on the ground too from time to time.
• Didn't I tell you San Francisco would be a scary game? All Lions fans need to be even more geeked up for the 49ers coming into town. They're quietly one of the best teams in the league, Harbaugh has them moving in the right direction, and the defense has been downright scary at times. The Lions still have some questions defending the run, and the 49ers have one of the best rushing attacks in the league led by Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter. Hopefully the Lions don't experience a mental letdown after all the hoop-la about last nights game.
  

A Team of Uneven Greatness - Not Destiny

Detroit 34, Dallas 30 - 4-0(1-0 NFC North)

What has transpired on the field for the Lions and their opponents the past two weeks has been the stuff of legends. In Week 3, a 20-point halftime deficit was erased lickity-split by a defense awoken from its slumber and the unstoppable connection of Stafford-to-Johnson. The end result was the Lions first win in Minnesota since 1997. In what should have the been craziest comeback we'd see from Detroit this season, they upped it into another stratosphere with their performance Sunday afternoon against a very good, very polished Dallas Cowboys team. Up 27-3 with 10:00 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, the Lions again found themselves in the same position they found themselves in a week prior - except against a much better team with a much, much better coaching staff on the opposing sideline. Forgive me for saying this, but I was just hoping Calvin Johnson would end the game providing my Fantasy team with a good amount of points. I knew Detroit would remain competitive with Jim Schwartz prowling the sideline, but Dallas was clicking so well that practice squad fodder Laurent Robinson looked like Michael Irvin against our defense. And nothing was going right. At all.

That is, until former Cowboy Bobby Carpenter undercut a Tony Romo pass. Touchdown.

Then Chris Houston said "fuck this noise" and one-armed another Romo pass. Touchdown.

From there, the Lions settled in and the offense got its rhythm back. And by rhythm, we mean Linehan realized he had the MOST PHYSICALLY FUCKING GIFTED WIDE RECEIVER IN NFL HISTORY yearning to make Mike Jenkins and Terrance Newman his personal bitches. And that he did. Mixed with some solid running from Jahvid Best(47 yards on 11 carries) and checkdown passes to Brandon Pettigrew(6 catches for 64 yards and quietly playing his best football ever - his run blocking has been very good), the NFL's best connection since Montana-to-Rice took the game over. There really is no telling what the limit is for Calvin Johnson. You saw him catch the ball over 3(!!) defenders in the endzone like he was playing Jackpot for shits and giggles. You saw him catch the game-winning fade from Matt Stafford, reaching up so high into the heavens for the winning grab that he got the wind knocked out of him when he landed. You saw him box out defenders like Shaquille O'Neal on simple slant patterns. In short, you saw a guy who makes Cris Carter look like the dumbest fucking human being on the face of the planet.

One could wax poetic about so many aspects of this game - a game we will all remember for a very long time. I'll harp on just a few things. For starters - this is NOT a team of destiny or good fortune, as you will soon read from your idiot local writers. The Lions don't have some newfound DNA that enables them to ignore whatever deficit they encounter and win every game no matter what. This is a team that's oh-so-close to being great - but not quite, and they've ridden a little bit of luck to a 4-0 record. This is a very uneven outfit, one that reflects how far we've come from 0-16...and how impressive our front office has been at supplanting talent at most positions on the field. The offense is littered with playmakers - but they also have an Oline that has regressed with each passing week. The defensive line was held largely in check by the Cowboys, and opponents have run on our attacking front four 4 with relative ease through the seasons first 4 games. The much-maligned secondary had nowhere to hide this week as Romo and co. picked them apart again and again. However, the teams most unsung and improved group - the LB corps - bailed the team out in the second half with some timely plays in coverage and slowing down Felix Jones in the run game. Stephen Tulloch, in particular, should be well on his way to an All-Pro campaign. The steal of Free Agency, Tulloch was fantastic in run defense and proved to be a thorn in Jason Witten's side, coming through with a huge interception covering him late in the game and never letting his man gain extra yardage when they caught the ball. In a game in which Detroit's star-studded Dline needed help, Tulloch and Carpenter and Louis Delmas made the plays necessary to mask our shortcomings in other places.

So where does Detroit go from here? Catching their breath isn't an option - division rival Chicago comes into town Monday Night(!!!) for what should be the most anticipated game in recent Lions history. 3-1 San Francisco and 2-2 Atlanta await the next two weeks after that, and I honestly thinkin Harbaugh and the revived 49ers defense is the most likely loss heading into the week 9 bye(I've already chalked off the week 8 game at Denver as a bloodletting of epic proportions. Go ahead and jinx me, Kyle Orton). Detroit only needs to play .500 ball the rest of the way to go 10-6 and presumably make the playoffs - I think that's about where this team is headed as they continue to grow, mature, and fall victim to some of the mistakes they've benefited from against Minnesota and Dallas. Of course, we could just be throwing the ball to Calvin every play and go 16-0. Ya never know. The fact that the Lions are even in a position as lofty as this in the first place is a testament to the braintrust of this organization, and a reminder that Detroit's best days are still yet to come. It's been a long time coming.

Some quick hits from Sunday's action:

• Jim Schwartz yelping at Dez "I dont know what a catch is" Bryant as it became clear the trash-talking buffoon didn't realize his 'catch' was about to be ruled incomplete is high comedy. Between that and Schwartz's "LEARN THE FUCKING RULES, REF!" tirade at the end of the Minnesota game, he's quickly becoming my favorite figure in sports. His legend grows every day in Detroit, and there's no limit to his potential as a Detroit icon.
• I called out the Offensive line earlier in this post, but lets not get TOO down on the unit. They've played two of the top defensive front 7's in the league the past two weeks, and while they have Julius Peppers coming to town next week, I think we'll see much better performances from Backus and Cherilous once the All-Pro's move away from the schedule.
• By far my favorite play of the game, and one that I called prior to the snap: DE Willie Young running absolutely roughshod over rookie RT Tyron Smith and sacking Tony Romo on the last drive of the game. Look for it on youtube - it was the most embarrassingly one-sided matchup I've ever seen. The Lions need to use Willie Young and LoJack more and Kyle Vanden Bosch less. We all love KVB and what he represents, but he's porous against the run and all that intangible nonsense he possesses isn't getting him to the quarterback any quicker.
• Joe Buck is the worst announcer ever. Between not seeming to give a fuck about any play the Lions made nor did he realize Dallas turned it over on downs and thus completing a thrilling(allegedly, not in his world though) comeback - I'd be very, very thankful if Detroit(or any non-Dallas teams) fans never had to hear his stupid, monotonous voice ever again. My God. Imagine if Gus Johnson was the announcer for that game.