No matter who the Lions started at QB last season, they produced.  22-year old Matt Stafford is the starting QB, when healthy.  That wasn’t much last season.  Stafford played in 2 games for the Lions last season and he completed 57 of 96 passes (59.4%) for 535 yards with 6 TD passes and 1 INT (91.3 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 4 times for 11 yards (2.8 ypc) with 1 TD run last season.  He has now played in 13 games in his first two years with the Lions and he has completed 258 of 473 passes (54.5%) for 2,802 yards with 19 TD passes and 21 INTs (67.1 QB Rating).  Stafford has also carried the ball 24 times for 119 yards (5.0 ypc) with 3 TD runs in his career so far.  Stafford is the future at QB for the Lions but they need to protect him better so that he doesn’t keep getting hurt.

31-year old Shaun Hill played the most for the Lions at QB in 2010 and he was rock solid.  He played in 13 games for the Lions last season and he completed 257 of 416 passes (61.8%) for 2,686 yards with 16 TD passes and 12 INTs (81.3 QB Rating).  Hill also carried the ball 22 times for 123 yards (5.6 ypc) last season.  He has now played in 32 games in his NFL career and he has completed 579 of 938 passes (61.7%) for 6,176 yards with 39 TD passes and 23 INTs (84.6 QB Rating).  Hill has also carried the ball 68 times for 320 yards (4.7 ypc) with 3 TD runs so far in his NFL career.  Hill is one of the best backup QBs in the NFL, period.

26-year old Drew Stanton played well also when he got his chance.  Stanton played in 6 games for the Lions last season and he completed 69 of 119 passes (58%) for 780 yards with 4 TD passes and 3 INTs (78.4 QB Rating).  Stanton also carried the ball 18 times for 113 yards (6.3 ypc) with 1 TD run last season.  He has now played in 13 games in his NFL career and he has completed 104 of 187 passes (55.6%) for 1,158 yards with 5 TD passes and 9 INTs (63.1 QB Rating).  Stanton has also carried the ball 30 times for 166 yards (5.5 ypc) with 2 TD runs in his career so far.  Stanton is one of the best #3 QBs in the NFL.

VERDICT:  The Detroit Lions are one of the only teams in the NFL that is truly set at QB, because they have 3 decent ones.

The Lions played a solid all around game yesterday at Ford Field.  Shaun Hill completed 28 of 39 passes for 258 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT (it was returned 36-yards for a TD by Vikings’ DE Jared Allen).  Jahvid Best carried the ball 10 times for 34 yards (3.4 ypc) and he also caught 6 passes for 23 yards (3.8 avg).  Maurice Morris could only muster 21 yards rushing on 12 carries (1.8 ypc) with a TD run and he also caught 2 passes for 24 yards (12.0 avg).  Nate Burleson led the way in the passing game for the Lions against his old team with 6 grabs for 83 yards (13.8 avg) with a TD grab.  Burleson also carried the ball 1 time for 20 yards against the Vikings.  TE Tony Scheffler pitched in with 50 yards receiving on 6 grabs (8.3 avg).  The Lions finished up with 107 yards rushing on 27 carries (4.0 ypc) and they also completed 28 of 39 passes for 250 yards.

The Lions’ D saved their best for last as they were simply dominating in this game!   LBs DeAndre Levy (11 tackles), Bobby Carpenter (8 tackles) and Ashlee Palmer (6 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack, 1 pass defensed and 1 QB hit) led the way for the Lions on D in this game.  CB Amari Spievey also had a solid game with 3 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 1 interception.  The Lions finish 6-10 on the year which has them tied with the Vikings for last place in the NFC North.