Detroit Lions Football Team

By now, it is the most infamous intersection in tiny downtown Pontiac, Mich.: University Drive and Wide Track Drive. It's the place, say local police, where you can still find shards of glass and bits and pieces of warped steel from a car crash that ended the lives of three teen-agers and began yet another nightmare for Reggie Rogers of the Detroit Lions. This time the nightmare doesn't include his brother Don, the former UCLA and Cleveland Browns star who died of a cocaine overdose in 1986.

Green Bay (6-4) at Detroit (2-8) Time: 9:30 a.m. Television: Channel 11. Line: Packers by 11. Over/Under: 47.5. Story line: The Lions were without their two best players -- quarterback Matthew Stafford and receiver Calvin Johnson -- when the Packers beat them, 26-0, in Week 6. That might be the case again today, as Stafford is nursing a sprained left shoulder, and Johnson is battling hand and knee injuries. Green Bay has dominated this series lately, winning 16 of 18, and Packers Coach Mike McCarthy has never lost to the Lions.

Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders signed a $9.5-million, five-year contract with the Detroit Lions Thursday, ending six weeks of negotiations between the team and its top draft choice. "I'm not one to make promises, but I'm ready to give 100% to the Detroit Lions. It's time to work. This is big business," said Sanders, whose deal includes a $2.5-million signing bonus. Ten percent of the bonus will go to the Paradise Baptist Church in his hometown of Wichita, Kan.

These last 32 frenetic football years, John McKay's 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers have lived alone in a figurative cellar as the NFL's last case of winlessness, with hardly anybody noting that their 0-14 record, given their first-year expansion status, should be rather forgivable. But if Steve Spurrier (the quarterback) and Lee Roy Selmon (the first draft choice) and McKay (the great coach) will just raise their eyes, they'll see the 2008 Detroit Lions.

These are the best of times for Dan Owens. Owens, a former all-Orange County lineman from La Habra High School and four-year starter at USC, is living a childhood dream as a starting defensive end for the Detroit Lions in his rookie season. Owens was the 35th player selected in the NFL draft. He was nicknamed "Big Money" by his teammates after reportedly receiving a three-year contract at $370,000 per season.

In a burst of vigor heartening to a city that has seen more than its share of wounded sports heroes, Reggie Brown sprang from a wheelchair and walked with a confident gait to the podium. "I'm OK. . . . and I will be back to normal," Brown said at a news conference at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital on Wednesday. Brown, the Detroit Lion linebacker who suffered a serious spinal injury during a Dec. 21 game, is making a stunning recovery.

The Detroit Lions are in trouble. They have a first-year coach in Marty Mornhinweg, a first-year general manager in Matt Millen, have lost their first four games and will match their worst start unless they beat the Tennessee Titans today. Some people say the franchise is at a crossroads. Specifically, Woodward Avenue and Cadillac Square. There, painted on the side of Cadillac Tower No. 20, is a 14-story mural of Lion running back Barry Sanders, complete with Nike swoosh.

Detroit Lion linebacker Reggie Brown suffered permanent damage to his spinal cord when he was hit in the head during Sunday's game against the New York Jets, Lion team physician David Collon said Tuesday. Brown can breathe on his own and has regained limited movement in all four extremities, but Collon said it is unknown whether Brown will walk again. Brown, 23, remains in stable condition at Detroit Henry Ford Hospital and is extremely weak.

Raymond Berry, former coach of the New England Patriots, was hired as quarterback coach of the Detroit Lions. Dave Levy, former USC assistant under John McKay, was hired as offensive coordinator and Charlie Sanders as receivers coach.

Barry Sanders almost defies description. But Tampa Bay rookie Errict Rhett gave it a try after the Detroit Lions' 14-9 victory over the Buccaneers Sunday night. "Not only can I not do the things Barry does, I can't even describe them," Rhett said. Sanders, the NFL's leading rusher, had his best game as a pro against the Buccaneers, rushing 26 times for a career-high 237 yards--an even 200 in the second half.

DETROIT -- The biblical verse taped inside his locker, Galatians 2:20, reads: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me . . ." And when he walks in from midday practice, the clean white baseball cap tugged down over his head bears a black cross on the front, the word "Forgiven" stitched on the back. Jon Kitna has never been shy about displaying his convictions. "I'm this way every day," he says. "I don't change."

DETROIT -- The difference in this game was a centimeter, an eyelash, the infinitesimal space required for a pass to glance through a receiver's hands. Just that quickly, New York Giants cornerback Sam Madison pounced on the deflection, intercepting a pass out of thin air and turning his team into a bona fide contender. The last-second turnover saved New York's 16-10 victory over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Sunday, a game that matched two teams making unexpected runs at the postseason.

Mike Williams is in his second season with the Detroit Lions, but the former USC receiver is still helping the Trojans in ways he never imagined. And in ways he never wanted to. Williams, you see, has become a cautionary tale, a how-not-to guide for college standouts considering leaving school early to chase their NFL dreams. Oh, he's financially set; his rookie contract as the No. 10 selection included $10.5 million in guaranteed money.

Unable to turn around a perennial losing franchise, Steve Mariucci was fired Monday by the Detroit Lions and replaced by Dick Jauron, Mariucci's defensive coordinator, who will serve as interim coach for the rest of the season. Mariucci, who had two seasons remaining on the $25-million deal he signed in 2003, was 15-28 over two-plus seasons and couldn't transform a franchise that has won one playoff game since 1957.

Ah, late October in Detroit. The leaves change, the temperature drops and the Lions begin in earnest their annual migration to NFL irrelevance. This season, though, the team's rite of autumn has taken a hard left. It's almost November, and the Lions are playing a game today that actually means something. They play host to Chicago for first place in the NFC North. Both teams are 3-3.

Say this for the Detroit Lions: They stand by their convictions. For the third consecutive year, they used their first pick to draft a receiver, selecting former USC receiver Mike Williams at the 10th spot. He rounds out a pass-catching crew that includes Charles Rogers, the second pick in 2003, and Roy Williams, the seventh pick last year. The Lions opted for Mike Williams despite pressing needs at tackle and defensive end. Why?

Reggie Brown's chances of recovery are good but his football career appears over. The Detroit linebacker had spinal neck surgery Monday after he was injured during a victory over the New York Jets that sent the Lions into the playoffs. He will wear a neck brace known as a halo the next three months. "The surgery to stabilize Reggie Brown's vertebrae has been completed and the surgery went well," team physician David Collon said in a release issued by the Lions. "His condition remains stable.

Warren Sapp had called Sunday's game against the winless Detroit Lions the most important of his seven-year career with Tampa Bay. While the comment drew some snickering, the Lions certainly kept the game close and the Buccaneers needed Martin Gramatica's 35-yard field goal with four seconds left to secure a 20-17 victory. "If we lost to an 0-7 team, where is the morale of the team?" Sapp asked. "All the nuts and the bolts could've came out if we fell flat here in Detroit, no doubt about it."

Roy Williams, star rookie receiver for the Detroit Lions, can do a lot of things. He can blow past some of the NFL's best cornerbacks. He can make astounding one-handed catches, "man catches," as one of his teammates calls them. And he can put points on the scoreboard. His five touchdowns are only one fewer than the total of the six other receivers chosen in the first round of last spring's draft. But Williams can't do everything. He can't, for instance, drive a stick shift. Oh, he tried.

Once Terrell Owens and Jeff Garcia got back in step at the pregame breakfast, not even Steve Mariucci could trip them up. Owens caught five passes for 79 yards and a touchdown as the San Francisco 49ers spoiled their former coach's homecoming, methodically beating the Detroit Lions, 24-17, on Sunday. Garcia completed 15 of 27 passes for 192 yards and rushed for another score, but his biggest play came in the hours before kickoff.