Calvin Johnson Revival as Megatron Has Lions Back as Playoff Contenders

It was happening again: The Detroit Lions were crumbling.

For the second straight year, the Lions had raced out to a commanding NFC North lead, tallying six or more wins in their first nine games. For the second straight year, it seemed, they were imploding.

In 2013, the Lions started 6-3 before losing six of their last seven. This season, they'd not only followed up a 7-2 start with a two-game losing streak, but they'd completely collapsed in the process.

Their high-powered offense went 25 straight drives without scoring a touchdown, while their No. 1 scoring defense looked lost and helpless while surrendering 34 points to the New England Patriots.

All of the talk about new head coach Jim Caldwell's maturing influence on the volatile Lions turned into criticism of his conservative approach defanging the offense, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

The offensive malaise even neutralized superstar receiver Calvin Johnson, who's been a consistently dangerous weapon even when he was the Lions' only weapon. During the Lions' two-game losing streak, Johnson caught only nine passes for 117 yards.

Coming into their annual Thanksgiving game, hosting a talented but desperate Chicago Bears squad, the Lions needed to snap out of their funk or risk a postseason berth slipping through their fingers yet again.

As buffet plates were passed around the nation, Johnson, Stafford and the Lions feasted on the Chicago Bears secondary.

Johnson hauled in 11 balls for 146 yards and two desperately needed touchdowns. Stafford completed 75.6 percent of his 45 pass attempts for 8.67 yards per attempt.

As the Lions opened up their lead in the second half, the run game opened up, too. Joique Bell rolled up 91 yards, a single-game high for Lions tailbacks in 2014. Running behind a reshuffled offensive line missing starting left tackle Riley Reiff and right guard Larry Warford, Bell averaged four yards per carry and punched in two touchdowns.

At the beginning of the game, it looked like the implosion was still in effect.

The Lions offense opened the game with a three-and-out, and the Bears answered with a six-play, hot-knife-through-butter touchdown drive.

After the Lions responded with a field goal of their own and got a stop, Bears defensive end Jared Allen blew through the Lions' patchwork protection for a crucial strip-sack. The Bears got the ball on the Lions 5-yard line. Shortly thereafter, it was 14-3.

In the first quarter, the Lions seemed to be playing for their season.

Stafford and the offense finally flipped the switch, capping a nine-play, 78-yard drive with this classic, toe-tapping Megatron touchdown catch:

While accepting his Phil Simms All-Iron award as the game's outstanding player, Johnson told Simms and the CBS Sports crew how vital Stafford's trust in him is when it comes to boundary passes.

"Matt, he sees me with a matchup, he's gonna put it up there for me to make a play," he said. "He trusts us to do it, and God love him for it." 

Johnson affirmed breaking the touchdown drought was huge for the Lions' approach. "Something like that early in the game, it breeds confidence," he said. "Not only for you but for the rest of the team."

Simms noted Johnson, who missed three starts and was limited in several other games with injuries this season, looked back in his usual Megatron form.

"I feel great," Johnson said. "To get us back going, get us back in sync, to be able to make some big plays for the team, all the guys contributed today, and we had a big day."

It wasn't just the Lions offense that returned to form. Their vaunted defensive line sacked Cutler three times and their secondary came up with two picks. After giving up those quick, early touchdowns, the Lions defense allowed only a field goal for the rest of the game.

This rebound couldn't come at a better time for the Lions, who—pending Sunday's results—are still a half-game behind the white-hot Green Bay Packers.

Should the Packers defeat the Patriots, the Lions would have just three games to claw one back before a fateful Week 17 matchup at Lambeau Field.

With upcoming games against the 2-9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 4-7 Minnesota Vikings and a rematch against the 5-7 Bears, though, a Lions team in this kind of form should emerge from that stretch with at least two wins.

However, the Packers' remaining slate is hardly tougher: They play the Atlanta Falcons (4-7), Buffalo Bills (6-5) and Buccaneers.

Even if the Packers lose to New England, they're riding an astounding 23-game home winning streak against the Lions. That's quite the ace up their sleeve. If Johnson, Stafford and Co. keep playing like this until then, though, they'll come into Lambeau 11-4—and have a playoff berth wrapped up either way.

Ty Schalter is a National NFL Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and member of the Pro Football Writers of America. All stats were obtained via Pro-Football-Reference.com except where otherwise noted.