At halftime, the Lions learned how to tackle, turning a 20-17 lead into a 32-17 final.

San Francisco’s backup took them down on the opening drive for a touchdown, largely due to insanely sloppy tackling. Luckily, we returned the ensuing kick to the 40, and at least responded with a field goal.

The next possession we held and marched back down with another nice drive for the score. When Matthew Stafford is working in Eric Ebron along with Megatron and Tate III, there’s none better.

Unfortunately, the defense got back to not tackling. Too often, guys aim high or at the ball to try and force the fumble instead of just bringing the runner down by going for the waist – proper form tackling. And the other defenders need to swarm the ball: once it crosses the line of scrimmage, ditch your assignment and help your fellow Lions! These are the little things great defenses do. Turnovers will force themselves out of opposing players’ frustrations and mistakes against a sound unit.

Without that D, San Francisco went up 14-10. Luckily, our veteran D-Lineman Ngata and our linebacker Whitehead submerged upon the 49ers QB, forcing a fumble one yard from the end zone! THERE’S THE DEFENSE! We punched it in promptly via Joique Bell. Our offense received another solid opportunity after they missed a field goal, but we stalled. Our run game stinks (AND NOT BECA– USE OF THE Gs, the play calling is poop).

They tied it at 17 just before the half, but Stafford took us right back down, finding Tate to put us in field foal range. Matt Prater, an unsung hero on the day, drained it for the halftime lead.

We made the halftime adjustment. Chip Beaver did not aka the 49ers coach. Nice replacement of Jim Harbaugh! Such a nice porn ‘stache. He coached his guys how to jump offsides impressively well. I’ve never seen such an undisciplined group at the snap. They’d just run right across the line before we hiked it consistently.

Detroit got Calvin Johnson going in the second half. Even though he’s such a solid deep threat, he’s strong as hell and needs to be used more in short-medium routes, like over the middle. He’s bread and butter with #9, you can see the chemistry. The Lions made a nice drive to tack on a field goal right away, leading 23-17 for a while.

While the defense kept giving us opportunities, we eventually scored a touchdown in the 4th with nine minutes to go on a long drive that took us through the 3rd quarter. Stafford found Johnson on a quick slant near the goalline, and after failing the 2, it was 29-17.

Some terrible coaching finished off the game at Ford Field, the final home game for the Lions. They went for it on 4th down in their own territory and got STUFFED by collapsing Detroit teammates. That’s the team-tackling that wins ball games. We marched far enough to make them burn through all three timeouts (WTF?) and added Prater’s 4th FG.

We should have scored again, but instant replay overturned a great Megatron catch just in front of the end zone. We still went on to secure the victory, taking that knee three times and saying goodbye, San Fran. That ends a vicious drought dating back to the Joe Montana era.

Dear Lions players,

We know what’s good. You keep proving how talented you are, and even when the playoffs are out of reach, you still came through. Martha Firestone Ford knows the coaches are to blame: Jim Caldwell, she brought binoculars for your ass.