Lions get last shot to avoid infamy
ALLEN PARK, Mich. - Cornerback Travis Fisher said he won't fly back to Detroit from Green Bay if the Lions somehow manage to find a way to beat the Packers on Sunday.
"If we win, I ain't catching the plane back home," he said with a laugh. "I'll walk back to Detroit."
Chances are, Fisher won't have to worry about making the 482-mile trek. A loss would install the Lions in their very own NFL Hall of Shame as the league's first team to go 0-16 in a season. They're already the first to go 0-15. A win, of course, would be better, allowing Detroit the dubious distinction of becoming the ninth franchise to finish a season 1-15. The last team to finish the season winless was the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, an expansion franchise that went 0-14.
"It's incredible that a team could go that long in the NFL without winning a game," said Tim Katanski of Ypsilanti. "I mean, Tampa Bay was an expansion team, so they kind of have an excuse."
The Lions are 1-22 since the middle of last season and haven't won since Dec. 23, 2007, when they beat Kansas City.
It doesn't look good. After all, Green Bay is where this hideous streak began at the end of last season. Since then, the Lions have lost 16 straight and have been outscored 520-260.
If the Lions give up 48 points - as they did in Week 2 against Green Bay - they will break the 1981 Baltimore Colts' NFL record (533) for points allowed in a season - by a single point.
When they were drafted, rookies Kevin Smith and Gosder Cherilus knew they were headed for a struggling franchise, but they never imagined a pitiful season like this.
"It's been a nightmare," Smith said. "It's totally embarrassing."
Cherilus agreed.
"It's Week 17 and I don't know what it's like to win an NFL game," he said somberly. "The situation we're in has to be enough to give everything you've got in this last game.
"It's our Super Bowl."
Though the Lions were 101/2-point underdogs Friday, Fisher liked their chances and sounded surprisingly confident.
"I think we're going to shock a lot of people with a great game. I feel like we're going to win," he said. "Not to take anything away from Green Bay, but we're a great football team. I know the record doesn't show it, but I'm going to say it."
Lions coach Rod Marinelli didn't talk about the possibility of going 0-16 with his players until they lost their first 12 games. When that happened, he told them to think about the team picture.
"He said, 'This could be the picture they send to the Hall of Fame for the first team that went 0-16,' " defensive tackle Shaun Cody recalled. "It threw me back."