By Mark Wilson
October 26, 2014

21-0 Atlanta Falcons.

Halftime.

The Detroit Lions trip to merry old England wasn’t looking so merry.

It made sense. Falcons’ coach Mike Smith, a pretty damn good head guy, figured stuff out after their 2-and-5 start and just in time to take it out… on everyone’s favorite NFL punching bag.

Fans at Wembley Stadium seemed to be enjoying the American version of football as they always do when the league makes its yearly migration to the land of tea and crumpets.

The Lions were Sunday’s crumpet.

Ok, fine. It would be a loss to drop the team to 5-and-3; not the worst thing ever. Especially for the Lions.

Surprisingly, there was no great halftime extravaganza. No appearance by “The Who” on their 50th anniversary tour, no Rolling Stones, no nothing.

What up with that, guv-nuh?

And where the heck was the Queen or other royal family members? They have something better to do on a late October Sunday?

So, the Lions get the ball to start the second half.

Even after a seven minute six second drive, all Matthew Stafford could do was set up a chip shot field goal by Matt Prater.

21-3.

Big whoop.

Matt Ryan, who has burned the Lions in the past, threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first 30 minutes; one to Devonta Freeman and one to Bear Pascoe.

If you watched HBO’s outstanding series “Hard Knocks,” you know those names.

All of a sudden, Ryan couldn’t hit the broad side of Buckingham Palace.

Three minutes after the Prater 3-pointer, Stafford finally found pay dirt. He hooked up with Golden Tate on a 59 yard TD pass; as pretty a throw as you’ll ever see.

With Calvin Johnson on the sidelines in a t-shirt and workout pants, Tate is the unquestioned featured receiver and feature he did with that play.
21-10.

Big whoop.

Certainly Ryan would find his first half magic again since he had HIS big gun receivers, Julio Jones and Roddy White.

Heck, they got their number three dude back as well. Harry Douglas was playing his first contest in over a month.

Steven Jackson was running well and Freeman is always a threat to bust one out as is Jacquizz Rodgers.

Weird. No bust out came.

Right before the end of the third quarter, Ryan was pressured and flung the football in the direction of… uh, well… uh, no one in a red and black uniform.

Cassius Vaughn, wearing a Lions’ uniform was right there for the easy pick.

Vaughn, a corner who spent the last couple of seasons with the Colts, rambled 45 yards and put the Lions in excellent field position.

Jim Caldwell is like any coach. He loves players who have ties to his former Indianapolis squad.

This was only Vaughn’s fifth game as a Lion; it was his sixth career interception.

Atlanta’s defense was able to hold Stafford at bay to start the fourth quarter and Prater trotted out for another easy field goal.

Whoa! Hold on, fella. NO field goals have been easy THIS season.

20 yards? Yeah… no problem.

21-13.

Huh?

Fourth quarter and the Lions were a TD and two point conversion away from tying the game? How the freak did that happen?

A five play, 12 yard drive was next for the Falcons. Matt Bosher came in to punt and banged one to the Detroit 31 yard line.

Stafford went back to work and began to dissect the Atlanta linebacking corps. Five short passes had the Lions down to the Falcons’ five.

They were even starting to pay attention in Scotland.

One more short pass on the drive went to Theo Riddick who could have crawled into the end zone. Nary a hand was laid on the running back from Notre Dame.

21-19.

Now it actually WAS a big whoop.

For only the second time in seven games, Caldwell had to set up for a 2-point conversion. The other time came in the season opener vs. the Giants.

The Lions were THIS close to tying a game that looked totally out of hand early on.

Stafford went to “Showtime” Tate but no dice. Incomplete.

Still 21-19.

3:56 remained on the clock so that was plenty of time for more action. Of course, all Ryan had to do was find a couple of first downs and that would pretty much ice it.

Sam Martin’s kickoff was another touchback on his resume and the ex-Boston College QB began at his own 20.

By the way, in case you forgot, Ryan (B.C.) and Stafford (Georgia) won their final season college bowl games against Mark Dantonio and Michigan State. They came in back to back years; 2007 and 2008.

It’s always a way I tie the two quarterbacks together.

Ryan got the first down he was looking for when he hooked up with Douglas on a 13-yard pass play. After Ndamukong Suh nailed Jackson for no gain, the Lions stopped the clock with their second timeout.

Next play, Ryan went to Jones for 22 yards. Another first down.

Two minute warning.

One more of those little first down buggers and this was done like Wimbledon.

Just trying to see how many English references I can get in here.

Freeman gained one yard before Tahir Whitehead stopped him. Lions linebackers did a terrific job in the second half. They had the defensive line’s back with Nick Fairley out after an ugly injury.

Third and final timeout by Caldwell.

1:55 was still on “Big Ben” or whatever clock they actually use at Wembley.

Only second down, Ryan still had tools at his disposal; namely his running game.

He could have simply taken the clock down by running a couple of plays but instead… a penalty for offensive holding stopped the clock again.

On third down, Ryan decided to go to the air.

The only thing he didn’t want? An incomplete pass stopping the clock once more.

Ryan looked at Jones and Julio, down by the schoolyard, dropped it.

Incomplete.

Bosher was in to punt with 1:46 remaining.

How Ryan could leave the field with that much time left is a mystery for a veteran playoff-type signal caller.

Smith was sweating out this ending.

At least his punter buried the Lions inside the 10. Stafford would start a final drive from his own seven yard line.

No touchdown was needed. Just a… uh, oh… field goal.

For the Falcons, it was a 106 second BLUR.

Stafford was a master at working the clock and got 11 plays into that 106 second box.

Detroit made it down to the Atlanta 25.

Four seconds left.

Prater came in to kick the biggest field goal of the year to date. The woes of Nate Freese and Alex Henery could all be wiped out by this one kick in the United Kingdom.

Don Muhlbach snapping, Martin holding and Prater… missed it.

Wide right.

But, wait. Whistle.

No play. The Lions were called for delay of game.

Are you kidding me?

Another “by the way.”

Do you realize that Muhlbach has been snapping on kicks since the Mariucci era? He got here in 2004 and was famous for that blown snap in the one point loss to Daunte Culpepper and the Vikings a decade ago.

The cat is still around.

Now, he’d get a chance to snap it again and Prater would get a chance to NOT MISS IT.

The five yard penalty pushed the ball back to the Atlanta 30, making it a 48-yard try. Prater has the NFL record with a 64-yarder when he was in Denver and before his alcohol problem forced him OUT of Denver and away from Peyton Manning.

Caldwell was as cool as a human can be.

This time there was no shank, no miss, no penalty, no wide right.

Nothing but split uprights.

22-21 Lions.

BIG WHOOP!

Prater was mobbed by his teammates, coaches and anyone else who made the plane ride across the pond. At one point I could swear I saw Prince William and Kate in the scrum but, I’m just making that up.

They came to London, they saw… they conquered.

Now, you say to yourself that it’s just a regular season game and Stafford has shown a propensity for a few interesting 4th quarter comebacks. I believe he has 14 of them in his ever-expanding career.

You can also say to yourself that, at 6-and-2, we’ve seen this act before.
As Halloween week begins, it’s another “trick” that usually doesn’t end up being a “treat” in Lions’ lore.

More often than not, a 21-0 lead would be a blowout loss.

Sometimes it would be a comeback that falls “just short.”

This turned out to be a win.

A DIFFERENT kind of win.

Without Calvin Johnson, Reggie Bush and the entire group of capable tight ends, somehow the Lions pulled out a victory from the depths of incompetence.

Yes, they looked positively incompetent in the first half without those guys and with Fairley gone from his injury.

The Falcons looked like world beaters on the Nottingham stage until that second 30-minute chunk.

It was a methodical ending to an improbable finish.

22-21.

Imagine that plane flight back to the ATL for Smith and his entourage.

There was NO rhyme or reason for the Lions to win that football game. I don’t care how bad the Falcons have been so far in 2014.

Detroit has already matched the total number of wins I predicted for them this season. I had ‘em at 6-and-10 and even wavered at 5-and-11.

Sure wouldn’t have been a stunner especially in the first campaign of the Caldwell regime.

Maybe, for a change, he IS the difference.

New defensive coordinator Teryl Austin has already been praised for his creative and calming nature to a disjointed defense with a good amount of talent.

Austin has found a way to solidify the secondary that is still missing Pro Bowl performers.

The talent is on that D-line and at the linebacker spots.

He’s even reined Suh in.

With his contract still an issue, Suh hasn’t been the wild “dirty” lineman he’s become famous for. He’s shown that incredible talent more than any time since his rookie season.

How good has Austin’s defense been?

Consider this. The Lions have yet to allow a 30 point effort by an opponent. You have to go back to 1994 to find a Lions’ D that hadn’t allowed 30 or more in any one game through week eight of the NFL season.

New offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi has provided stability in an offense that was lacking under Scott Linehan.

His work with Stafford is obvious and he finds a way to use Joique Bell, Riddick and Jed Collins successfully when Bush isn’t available.

At the top of that coaching chain is Caldwell.

Maybe he is just better than I thought he was.

However, before I go with the idea that this is NOT the “same old Lions” there is another half of a season to play.

As mentioned before, we’ve seen the act.

Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt.

Literally.

I actually HAVE a t-shirt from 2008. You remember the one. “Detroit Lions Pre-Season Champions” when Rod Marinelli led the team to a perfect 4-and-0 in games that didn’t count.

On the one hand, it was supposed to be a little sarcasm but… on the other hand it was meant to indicate that Marinelli was ready to lead this woebegone franchise to the coveted Promised Land.

17 weeks later, the Lions had the NFL’s first ever 0-and-16 season.

The t-shirt is great for dusting.

Less we forget, the year before the goose egg, in 2007, the Lions began the season 6-and-2.

Week Nine of ’07 was a stunning 44-7 triumph over the Broncos to get the team to that 6-and-2 mark.

Receiver Mike Furrey screamed the classic line, “Kiss my ass media!”

Dominic Raiola told me I needed “to believe” more.

Uh huh. Sure.

A 1-and-7 finish to 2007 had the Lions at 7-and-9 and out of the post-season.

Kiss my ass, Mike Furrey!

I’ve wanted to type that for the past seven years.

Hey, just LAST SEASON our buddy Jim Schwartz had the Lions at 6-and-3. Have we forgotten so fast?

No one was talking about firing Schwartz when he waltzed into Soldier Field and left with a 21-19 win.

No one.

Seven weeks and six losses later, Schwartz was fired.

Marinelli was fired after 0-and-16.

Dick Jauron wasn’t allowed to continue after a 1-and-4 interim roll following the firing of Mariucci.

Marty Mornhinweg was fired after two crappy seasons to begin the Matt Millen reign of “error.”

Gary Moeller had “Carte Blanche” from late owner William Clay Ford but Millen never gave him a shot. Mo was fired after a 4-and-3 run replacing Bobby Ross who left because his legs hurt.

And HE was 5-and-4!

It took nine years to eventually fire Wayne Fontes after Darryl Rogers got fired after Monte Clark was fired after Tommy Hudspeth was fired after Rick Forzano was fired after Don McCafferty died.

I stop at McCafferty.

It took a heart attack on his front lawn in West Bloomfield to remove the former Colts Super Bowl coach from his Lions’ coaching position which he held for just one season.

Simply put, it never seems to end well for Lions’ head coaches.

Ask Joe Schmidt. It didn’t end well for him either.

Ugh.

I could do this all day going back to 1957.

When you’ve won just ONE lousy playoff game in 57 years, and that came under Captain Wayne-O, it won’t end well for those that fail.

EVERY man that has borrowed the keys to the Ford kingdom has failed since George Wilson in 1957.

It’s no shocker that Wilson also happens to be the LAST Lions coach to leave Detroit and get a pro head coaching position elsewhere.

Wilson was the first coach of the Miami Dolphins; leaving here in 1964 to work in Washington before getting the Dolphins gig in 1966.

Sorry young Miami fans, Don Shula wasn’t the first coach in mammal history.

In fairness to Rogers, Darryl did become the head man with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.

I don’t count the CFL.

Guess I could have just said Wilson was the last to get an NFL head coaching job but then I couldn’t mention Rogers’ time in Winnipeg.

Plus, Darryl is going to turn 80 next year.

The oldest line in the coaching book is, “You’re fired the day you’re hired they just don’t put a date on it.”

Caldwell’s clock started ticking the minute he shook GM Martin Mayhew’s hand.

One thing Caldwell had that only two other Lions’ coaches could boast is an appearance as a head dude in a Super Bowl.

McCafferty was the first and then Ross with San Diego.

If Caldwell can ever lead this city into a February football game then… well, who knows?

No clue what to say about that; it sounds so absurd.

First and foremost, Caldwell has to lead this city into a game against those Dolphins.

Miami comes to Ford Field after the bye week and it’s an improved Dolphins team that features an ex-Lion in the secondary.

Louis Delmas returns to Detroit after five tumultuous seasons here. Sunday, he returned an 81-yard pick for a touchdown in the win over Denard Robinson and Jacksonville.

Following the Miami game comes the REAL test of whether there is something happening here or not.

Those back to back road games at Arizona and New England will tell a lot about what’s cooking in the Caldwell kitchen.

It is very possible that the Lions will be 7-and-2 going into those pressure cookers.

You know the last time the Lions were 7-and-2?

I didn’t either, but I checked.

1962!

You gotta go back 52 years to find a Lions’ season in which they had two losses or less after nine games.

In fact, with Wilson coaching, they ripped off a seven game win streak to get all the way to 11-and-2 before losing at a frozen Chicago 3-0 on the final day to finish 11-and-3.

Naturally, they missed the playoffs.

Ford wasn’t even the official owner at that point. He wouldn’t take sole control until 1964.

7-and-2 in 2014 would be a big deal for the organization.

That reason alone, the game vs. Miami is huge.

Then come those two road games before the three straight home contests starting with Thanksgiving against the Bears.

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Lions fans are by far the most interesting lot in all of sports. Cubs fans can’t hang because they always have Wrigley Field to turn to for comfort (even with the horrible half billion dollar renovation now underway).

Football takes a different breed of fandom.

An eight game home commitment and another eight on the road isn’t a major hairy deal. That’s why folks come out of the woodwork like Zombies each and every fall to put up with the degradation endured over this nearly 60 years of futility.

Over and over and over we say the same garbage each autumn into winter.

Maybe, just maybe… the Lions have found a guy who really CAN change it.

And… outside of Mariucci, how many of these coaching wizards did we REALLY believe could have the miracle formula to right the wrongs?

Seriously. Who else?

Forzano? Hudspeth? Clark? Rogers? Fontes?

No, I don’t think when those guys were hired the prevailing thought was… savior.

Maybe Boss Ross?

A little. After all, he did lead a team to the Super Bowl.

Moeller?

Too many remember the night at Excalibur in Southfield when Gary imploded and lost his Michigan job.

Rod? Schwartzie?

Hell no.

Caldwell is different in that regard also.

Don’t know what to make of him yet. He has an interesting resume and background. He took an Indy Colts team with Manning to a Super Bowl but he also fell flat on his face when Peyton was out due to the neck surgery.

He went back to the Super Bowl as O.C. for John Harbaugh in Baltimore. Tutored Joe Flacco. Won a ring.

Then again, we hear the Ravens weren’t extolling his virtues once the big game was finished.

To this day, Jim Caldwell is a bit of a mystery man despite having so vast a set of credentials.

I think he’s just quiet.

And it’s a nice change. Someone who does his job, doesn’t bellyache about everything; whine and moan at the first sign of trouble.

Refreshing around these parts.

It all comes down to results and there’s a ways to go before that story is written for ’14. If England was any indication, it shows his perseverance through “in-game” adversity. Sure looks a lot better than MOST of his predecessors.

Welcome back from London there, J.C. Have a breather this bye week and gear up for Miami. You’re on the brink of doing something no Lions team has done in more than a half century.

7-and-2 comes with no parades or rings… but it’s a start.

May I offer you a stale crumpet?