The Detroit Lions continue to slide in most of the weekly power rankings, following their second-straight loss, the most recent at the hands of the New Orleans Saints. Detroit is a young team hoping to compete in the playoffs via a wild card this season, and its last two games were essentially playoff tests, taking on two of the NFC's best in the aforementioned Saints and the Green Bay Packers. They're falling down most power rankings, but only by a little bit.
ESPN drops the Lions one spot in their Week 14 NFL Power Rankings:
12. The Lions are committing so many dumb penalties that officials are starting to run out of flags. (Clayton)
They continue to fall further from the top ten, dropping one place last week and one place this week. Though it's not the lone reason they're losing games, the penalties are definitely a factor, and the Lions are one of the most penalized teams in the league. That's something that will need to change - something that can kill a playoff game.