ALLEN PARK, Mich. – In a high-profile, media-driven league like the NFL, teams constantly have to deal with the extremes of either adversity or success.
Here’s a rare concept: The Detroit Lions now have to handle the latter.
As running back Reggie Bush would put it, they can’t “eat the cheese.”
“It’s increasingly becoming part of the scope in the NFL to deal with praise and to deal with the accolades and things like that,” Lions coach Jim Schwartz said Monday during his weekly news conference. “It makes it difficult to stay level-headed. It makes it difficult to stay even-keeled throughout the course of a season.”
The Lions are used to handling the other end of the spectrum. Failure and adversity are what they’ve been most familiar with over the years.
But they’re entering a different environment now with a 6-3 record that has put them in sole possession of first place in the NFC North with seven weeks remaining in the regular season.
Suddenly, they're not just another contender, they're the favorite. They're expected to win the division.
If they don't, it's going to be a major disappointment.
The Lions haven’t been in first place this late since 1999 when they were also 6-3 and finished 8-8, barely even making the playoffs as a wild card.
If the season ended today, they would host the San Francisco 49ers in an opening-round playoff game.
Detroit is also only one game behind NFC South leader New Orleans (7-2) for the conference’s second playoff bye.
“There’s a lot of things that you’ve got to persevere through and praise and success is one of those things," Schwartz said.
“Quite honestly, that’s something in the past we haven’t done a good job of dealing with.”
There's really not much of a sample size to consider but a year ago, the Lions were coming off a 10-win, playoff season with significantly increased expectations only to collapse during an eight-game losing streak to finish with a 4-12 record.
Some of the players admitted they didn’t handle success very well that time around.
“That’s been a significant change in our team, guys being able to bounce back from wins and keep level headed," Schwartz said.
“That’s one of the reasons you bring in a player like Reggie Bush, a guy that has experience in all those different things. I think that he’s set a good example that way.”
Bush will make sure his teammates don't, you know, eat all that cheese.
This is the Lions’ best nine-game start since they were 7-2 in 1993, which happens to be the last time they won a division championship and hosted a playoff game.
It seems as if almost every day something else falls in place for the Lions and suggests they are going to stay right where they are on top.
The latest came Monday when the Bears announced that cornerback Charles Tillman will miss the remainder of the regular season with a triceps injury, further depleting an injury-plagued defense.
Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler is also hampered by a high-ankle sprain to go with the groin injury that limited him during Sunday’s 21-19 loss to Detroit.
Green Bay, the NFC North’s favorite, barely resembles itself without injured quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who likely will miss the Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit.
Asked what it would mean for the Lions to win the division and host a playoff game, Schwartz wouldn’t bite.
“Good try,” he told the reporter. “We’ve got way too far to go to start talking about stuff like that. We’re worried about this week. Good gracious, we have enough challenges to get through practice on a Wednesday and a Thursday and a Friday and build a game plan and things like that, to start worrying about things that are two months down the road.
“The only way we’ll get to two months down the road is if we do a good job in the moment. I like the personality of our team when it comes to that.
“I know it’s exciting for fans of our team. But, honestly, I think you can get sidetracked by starting to get ahead of yourself as a team. We want to guard against that.”
Schwartz added, “We’ve got six wins. That’s not going to be enough.”
The Lions will go for their seventh victory Sunday at Pittsburgh before playing four of their final six games at home.
EXTRA POINTS
--- David Akers was wide right on a 45-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter against the Bears.
It was technically his fourth miss in 16 attempts this year, but two of the misfires were blocked kicks that weren’t his fault.
“He hit the ball good,” Schwartz said of Sunday’s miss. “It starts off right in the middle and then the wind took it. That was a hard wind to judge. We were going back and forth which way we wanted to kick off.
"Pre-game it was, OK, we’re going to kick right to left and then boom we’re going to kick left to right. It seemed to change all the time. That’s just the way Soldier Field is.
“We have a lot of confidence in David. David’s good for our football team. He’ll make his share of those kicks.”
--- Linebacker Rocky McIntosh, who is part of the defense’s short-yardage and goal-line units, has played only five defensive snaps in the last two games.
However, he’s made two of the season’s biggest plays during that time.
First, McIntosh had the tackle against Dallas that forced a late field goal and helped save as much as 40 seconds on the clock to give the offense just enough time for a last-minute winning drive.
Then on Sunday, McIntosh, who was signed as a free agent in mid-August, came through with a fourth-down stop in Lions’ territory.
“He’s a veteran player,” Schwartz said. “He’s been a starter in the past. That’s not his role right now, but he prepares every week that way. I think that’s the key for any player.
"He can only control his preparation and his attitude. Both have been outstanding. He’s done a really good job on special teams also. He was a good acquisition for us.”
McIntosh, 30, played his first six years with Washington before spending last season in St. Louis.
--- Running back Montell Owens, considered a top special-teams player, made his season debut after missing the first eight games with a knee injury.
He played in only two plays on offense and three plays on special teams before getting injured again.
“He re-aggravated the knee,” Schwartz said. “Right now it’s no more than day-to-day, week-to-week. We’ll just have to see how it does.”
