ALLEN PARK, Mich. — The Detroit Lions were not expected to match the success they had last year when they won a franchise-record 15 games to earn the NFC's No. 1 seed in the playoffs and claimed consecutive division championships for the first time since they were an NFL powerhouse in the early 1950s.
Detroit lost two veterans on one of the league's best offensive lines and two coordinators, including Ben Johnson, who left to lead the Chicago Bears, and did not address its desperate need for pass-rushing help.
The schedule also was tougher than it was a year ago.
No one, though, envisioned the Lions sputtering as they have since starting 4-1 this season.
Detroit (8-7) has not won two games in a row in more than two months. And after losing two straight games for the first time in three-plus years, including Sunday's wild 29-24 setback to Pittsburgh, the Lions face long odds to make the playoffs.
Detroit's only chance to rally into a third straight postseason is to win road games against the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night and the NFC North-leading Bears on the last weekend of the regular season — and for the Green Bay Packers to lose at home against Baltimore and at Minnesota.
Undaunted, coach Dan Campbell's message to his team was clear.
''Move forward,'' Campbell said he told players Monday when they met to kick off a short week of preparation. "We've got three days here of practice for these guys to get the mental work, to recover. Make sure they get rest when they leave here and get back to work.
