Lions fans were undoubtedly anticipating a freefall, because they think I hate their team. Truth is, I feel Detroit is a strong candidate for the fifth or sixth seed in the NFC, and the Lions don't deserve to drop at all, as they fought hard on the road against one of the best teams in the NFL. What does deserve the equivalent of a 31-spot plummet is the decision to not use Joique Bell on third-and-1 or fourth-and-short late in the second half of the loss to the Cardinals. Bell was in the midst of his first productive performance in a month, and Jim Caldwell and his staff made the bruising back a bystander on the two critical downs of the game. If I were a fan in Detroit -- or one of the many Lions fans I know in Los Angeles (@TurkNorton, @ShawntKidd) -- I wouldn't have been happy with some of the officiating, either.