The Detroit Lions have been a source of criticism, cynicism and straight-up mockery over the past week for managing to play a third down with only nine defenders on the field.

That was last Sunday in a 44-20 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, when Detroit was shuffling players off the field and Joe Flacco snapped the ball with only nine of them present, only to hit Chris Moore for a 23-yard pass that would set up a touchdown.

It was the second straight week the Lions failed to count to 11 on defense and gave up a touchdown as a result. On Thanksgiving, they only had 10 men on the field for a goal-line play in which the Minnesota Vikings threw for an easy score.

Two straight weeks of the same errors, plus the coaching staff's inability to explain them, led to this spoof Sunday on the FOX pregame show:

That segment aired prior to the Lions' road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when they cleaned up those communication errors in order to squeak out a 24-21 win to improve to 7-6.

For a more serious look at the communication issues that have plagued the Lions under Jim Caldwell's watch this season, read this story from earlier in the week: