A look at the highs and lows of the first half of the season for the Detroit Lions and what to expect in the second half:

Midseason MVP: It’s tough to really highlight anyone on the NFC North cellar dwellers, but two players have stood out. Matt Prater has been perfect on field goals, but defensive end Ezekiel Ansah has to be the choice here. He’s been dynamic in his third season -- and his first really seeing the attention an elite-level rush end can get, which was a question mark entering the season after two years of benefiting from Ndamukong Suh taking up double-teams. But Ansah has been consistently dominant, has seven sacks in eight games and is turning into Detroit’s best defensive player. On a terrible team, he might end up as a Pro Bowler.

Best moment: From a personal perspective, coach Jim Caldwell likening facing the Detroit press corps to entering the Dungeon of Doom was pretty rich. On the field, there isn’t much to choose from considering how the team has played. The Lions’ first half of the opener against San Diego showed what Detroit might have been capable of this season, as the offense, defense and special teams were all on point. Considering that, it’s amazing how far and how fast it has all fallen apart for the Lions, who have yet to find that level of synergy again. They haven’t come close.

Ezekiel Ansah got one of his 13.5 sacks this season against Carson Palmer. AP Photo/Rick Osentoski

Worst moment: There are many to choose from, including some blowouts in this failure of a season for Detroit, but I nominate the Lions’ goal-line fail against Minnesota late in the fourth quarter in Week 7. The Lions had multiple chances to score from the 1-yard line, which would have at least given Detroit a shot to beat the Vikings and put together a two-game win streak. Instead, the Lions gave the ball to George Winn for his first carry of the season, then to rookie fullback Michael Burton. On fourth down, the Lions chose to pass and that failed, too. It was poor clock management, poor personnel usage and ultimately appeared to be the final act of now-former offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi. The last three quarters of that game were exceptionally bad all over.

Mark your calendar: It's not likely to come until Jan. 4, so mark your calendar for the day after the NFL season concludes. That's when Martha Ford will likely have to make a decision on the fate of Caldwell. That could have been a bigger day of change for the Lions, but Ford already fired former team president Tom Lewand and former general manager Martin Mayhew earlier this month -- starting a potential massive shift for an organization that has one playoff win in the Super Bowl era. Seeing what she does with Caldwell will be the next step.

Key to second half: Tanking in the NFL rarely happens -- it isn’t like the NBA, where one player can completely alter the franchise -- but the Lions are playing for a top draft pick in 2016. If you’re a Lions fan, you want the team to end up somewhere in the top five so it can nab an impact offensive or defensive lineman who can help immediately. Joey Bosa (DE, Ohio State), Robert Nkemdiche (DT, Ole Miss), Laremy Tunsil (OT, Ole Miss), Jalen Ramsey (DB, Florida State), Jaylon Smith (LB, Notre Dame), Laquon Treadwell (WR, Ole Miss) and Jack Conklin (OT, Michigan State) could be players to watch at the college level the rest of the way.