The Wings and Lions have both been very streaky this season and the upcoming games should prove where each team is this season.  The Red Wings had an off-day after losing two straight on the current road-trip and face the Los Angeles Kings, who currently lead the Pacific division, while the Lions face the 2-7 Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

The Wings have won five straight, then lost six straight, won four more in a row and now are on a two game losing streak.  The Kings are a solid team and a win against them would prove that the Wings have gotten things back on track.

This Red Wings team is good enough to go on winning streaks like they have this season, but is way too good to lose six games in a row.  When the Wings do go through streaks like this, usually injuries or goaltending is to blame, but with no major injuries to report and solid goaltending so far by Jimmy Howard that is not the case this season.

As for the Lions, they came off the bye week and got throttled by the Bears in a huge NFC North match-up.  This week the Carolina Panthers and rookie quarterback Cam Newton come to Ford Field in what should be a win for the Lions.

Good football teams don’t lose games like this.  After a loss and with a weaker opponent coming in to town, this is basically a must-win game for Detroit.  They proved once already that they can bounce back from a loss against an inferior opponent (see Denver) but this is a game they cannot afford to lose if they still plan on making the playoffs this season.

Running back Jahvid Best will still be out of action for this game and Matt Stafford still has an injury to his throwing hand, but with the pass rush we can bring against Newton, it should be a long day for the rookie QB.