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As losses go – and there have been plenty for the Lions this season – Sunday's 38-10 defeat at the hands of Cardinals was as bad as they come. It was embarrassing, actually.

A Cardinals team that had lost nine straight games heading into Sunday and was rumored to have given up on the season after a 58-0 loss to Seattle last week handed the Lions their 10th - and worst - defeat of the season. It's their sixth-straight.

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford stood in front of his teammates and the media after the game and took blame for the loss after throwing three interceptions – two of which were returned for touchdowns.

"That's about as bad as I can play," he said afterward. "For us to be successful I'm going to have to play a whole lot better than that and I understand that."

But Sunday's loss wasn't about one player's mistakes. This was the true definition of a 'team loss'.

Not one unit played well - offense, to defense or special teams. All three phases had a hand in the loss.

Unfortunately, we've said that too many times after losses this season.

"(This is) as mad as I've been for a long time," Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said.

"We went into the game wanting to take care of the football, wanting to be able to establish the run. We did a poor job of both of those and when we needed defensive stops, we didn't get them.

"We gave up the field goal that was a big turning point in the game – when they made it 17. Then when we had opportunities to pull a (touchdown) midway through the fourth quarter, we didn't make those plays."

Outside of receiver Calvin Johnson – who continues his pursuit of Jerry Rice's single-season record for receiving yards with another 121 yards against the Cardinals – no one stepped up to make a play.

The Lions rushed for just 84 yards (3.8 average). Eight other players besides Johnson caught at least one pass in the game, but only one (tight end Tony Scheffler, 36) finished with more than 18 yards.

"We had a hard time getting anything going when they doubled Calvin," Schwartz said. "We have to find a way for other guys to be able to make a play."

It's the same script that continues to play out week-after-week for Schwartz and the Lions. He's left to explain how players fail to make plays at key points in the game.

"If you look back, we're 14 points down and we had a chance to crease them on a long pass - we dropped the ball," Schwartz said of a crucial drop by Scheffler deep down the field in the fourth quarter.

"We have a touchdown that basically pulls us within seven late in the fourth quarter and we don't get that done.

"We have a fourth down play there and we don't get that done. The game got out of hand late, but we still had plenty of opportunities in the fourth quarter."

The tough part to take for a Lions fan is how quickly and how stunning the team's decline has been over the last 12 months.

The Lions have gone from a 10-win playoff teams to now owning the worst record in the NFC in less than one calendar year. Only the Jaguars and the Chiefs own worse records in the entire league at this point.

Stafford finished one of the worst games of his career completing 24-of-50 passes for 246 yards and three interceptions.

He stood up and took the blame for the loss like a leader does when he doesn't play well, but as Sunday's game proves; the Lions have a lot of problems.