Jim Caldwell believes Detroit Lions can still salvage their season
Friday 30 October 2015 15:36, UK
Despite a 1-6 start for the Detroit Lions, head coach Jim Caldwell still believes they have a chance to salvage their season.
The Lions face the Kansas City Chiefs (2-5) on Sunday at Wembley Stadium in a meeting of two teams who have fallen significantly short of preseason expectations.
Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, the grandson of Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi, was fired by the Lions on Monday with quarterbacks coach Jim Bob Cooter promoted into his role, and Caldwell is hoping the move can spark life into the team.
"It's been done before, where teams turned around," Caldwell said Friday at the team's practice facility. "It certainly is possible."
Quarterback Matt Stafford has thrown nine interceptions in seven games - one behind league leaders Peyton Manning and Sam Bradford - and Detroit ranks 29th in the NFL with only 19.9 points per game.
Lions fans are hopeful they will see a revitalised offence against the Chiefs but Caldwell was keen to temper expectations.
"It's not like you're going to make a whole lot of structural changes in a few days. It doesn't make sense, and functionally it's not great," Caldwell said of the new offensive setup. "So you have to make small tweaks here and there."
Last year, the Lions came to London and beat the Atlanta Falcons 22-21. They went on to reach the play-offs, thanks largely to its Ndamukong Suh-led defence. Now Suh is gone, and it's been harder for the Lions to compete while struggling to score.
Against the Chiefs and their strong pass rush, Stafford may again find it hard to get the offense moving.
"They got inside pass rushers and outside pass rushers, which is an issue," Caldwell said. "We have to be able to do multiple things in order to keep those guys at bay.
"They're similar to what we faced at Denver, in terms of just exceptional pass rushers on the edge and guys inside that can give you some problems as well."
The game at Denver didn't end well, with the Broncos winning 24-12 as the Lions lost their third straight game to open the season. They then lost two more before beating the Chicago Bears 37-34 on October 18, the team's only win.
If there is any chance to turn things around, playing the Chiefs in London instead of in Kansas City is about as good a place as any to get started.
Caldwell is expecting it.
"When you work extremely hard, typically success follows. These guys work," Caldwell said. "We just haven't been able to carry over our work that we've done really well during the week into the game, and that's what we have to do."
Watch the Detroit Lions take on the Kansas City Chiefs at Wembley live on Sky Sports 2HD from 2pm on Sunday.
