Must win?
Can the first game of an NFL season be a must-win situation?
Probably not, but the rules are sometimes different for the Detroit Lions.
Confident voices have been emerged from the Lion locker room during the preseason. Jon Kitna boldly predicted 10 wins or more. Many of the players supported their quarterback.
But that kind of talk quickly flies out the window if the Lions can’t open today with a win over the only team in the NFL that was worse than them last season.
What a blow it would be to the Lions if Josh McCown, who was traded to Oakland after not being able to beat out Kitna for the Detroit’s starting quarterback job last year, leads the Raiders to victory.
So, for the Lions, maybe Game 1 is must-win.