ALLEN PARK -- The upcoming Sunday Night Football matchup looks a good deal different than it did a few weeks ago.

The Detroit Lions began the season 3-1, showcasing an efficient quarterback in Matthew Stafford and a much improved defense. It looked like a complete team in going on the road to score two early victories, and it came out with an NFC North lead and the No. 2 spot in NFL Network's power ranking.

The Pittsburgh Steelers started 3-1 as well, but their fifth game was a 30-9 laugher at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars in which quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw five interceptions and afterward speculated whether he even has much left in the tank at age 35. Their wins had been coming against struggling offenses. They'd already dropped two games against Jaguars and Bears teams that are among the most vertically challenged in a passing league, though both have found some ways to win.

The landscape of this Sunday's game between the Lions and Steelers has flipped in just a couple weeks. Detroit was thoroughly outplayed in two losses prior to the bye week, which it limped into with a number of concerning injuries. Pittsburgh has now won two straight in convincing fashion, including giving Kansas City its first loss of the season.

As a result, Pittsburgh opens as a three-point favorite on the road this weekend, per VegasInsider.com.

"It's kind of week to week in this league. That's why it's so up and down," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. "One week you play well, and everybody thinks you're great. One week you play poorly, and they think that obviously you're terrible.

"So, the fact of the matter is that you know that's why they play the games. You can't predict what's going to happen."

The Lions will hope the bye week was the separator, a chance to get over the hump and back to winning. Caldwell said he liked that a 52-38 loss to the New Orleans Saints could fester a bit, given how much his team had to correct.

It's a sizeable list of trends entering Sunday's matchup:

The Lions had 50 and 66 rushing yards in the losses to the Panthers and Saints, respectively. In the first four games, the Lions averaged 97 rushing yards per game, just a hair under the mark Caldwell hopes to exceed each contest.

Stafford has turned the ball over six times total the past two weeks. That's after he went the first four games with just one turnover total.

Similarly, the Lions are negative in turnover margin the past two games after they were positive -- and led the league overall -- in the first four games.

Meanwhile, the Steelers have a few impressive trends that the Lions will want to knock them down from:

Since Roethlisberger's five-interception game against the Jaguars, the five-time Pro Bowler has three touchdowns to just one pick. His yards per attempt those first five games were just 6.5, but they've jumped to 9.7 over the past two weeks.

After being held to 371 yards on 3.6 yards per carry the first five weeks, Le'Veon Bell has 313 yards on 4.7 yards per carry the past two games. He appears to be hitting his stride after missing training camp as part of a contract holdout.

After giving up an average of 137 rushing yards per game those first five contests, the Steelers have held the Chiefs and Bengals to rushing outputs of 28 and 71 yards.

The Steelers are rolling, though they have a tendency to be off on the road from time to time. The Lions have been scuffling, but they hope a bye week of rest and preparation can combine with a primetime home game to help turn the tides.