PHILADELPHIA –Burning questions – what the comeback to win in overtime meant, who made the big plays, a blizzard of penalty flags, struggles on offense, a questionable challenge, and the immediate future of 
Q. The comeback: What were the keys?
A. Start with the offense. It came alive in the fourth quarter after snoozing for the first three.
Give the defense credit, especially in overtime. The pass rush got to Michael Vick, sacking him on the first two plays of overtime for 21 yards in losses.
And finally give credit to the old man,
Q. Flip-flop: What is the message from the game?
A. That nobody should give up. For about 55 minutes, the Lions looked like stumbling losers. In the end, they were winners – the better team, that made its own breaks.
Q. What it meant: The Lions came out of the bye week hoping to end a three-game losing streak, and they did. The streak ended, and they made their record 2-3.
What kind of predicament were they facing?
A. What they wanted to avoid was digging a deeper hole in the NFC North basement by dropping to 1-4.
Next up on the schedule is a Monday night road game against the Bears, who had the week off.
The Bears are resting on a 4-1 record, and they’ll want to make a statement on Monday Night TV.
The situation wouldn’t have been hopeless with a loss, but it wouldn’t have been hopeful, either.
Q. Stafford’s struggles: Until the fourth quarter, when he led two long drives that ended in touchdowns and a third to the tying field goal, Matthew Stafford had one of his worst games.
What was the problem, and should the Lions have considered going with
A. Start with replacing Stafford. Forget it. He’s the starter, the franchise quarterback, and the only way he should be replaced is for injury or in garbage time.
The proof that sticking with Stafford was the right move was the way he led the Lions back – with the two TDs and the field goal in a 17-point fourth quarter.
The passing game never really had a sustained rhythm. Even in the fourth quarter, it looked like every series was a struggle.
And the most glaring weakness was the inability to get the ball to
I’m sure there are reasons to explain that how defensive schemes negate the offense, but none of them explain not being able to get the ball to the best receiver in football.
But in the end – and the result cannot be stressed too much – Johnson had six catches for 135 yards, and Stafford passed for more than 300 yards and had another big comeback to his credit.
Q. Discipline, penalties: The Lions were penalized 15 times in regulation, and some of them were bewildering – like six offside penalties against five defensive linemen.
Do the penalties indicate a lack of discipline?
A. Yes, but it’s hard to know where to put the finger. The easy answer is to say it’s the coaching staff’s fault, but no staff teaches players to get penalized.
A lot of it has to fall on personal discipline – players being accountable for their own actions. But everyone gets a share of blame, players and coaches – especially because the problem has continued.
Q. Kickoff strategy: After Matthew Stafford’s TD cut the deficit to 16-13 with a little more than 10 minutes left, the Lions kicked off from the Eagles’ 45 because of two penalties on Philly.
Jason Hanson kicked the ball through the end zone, giving the ball to the Eagles at the 20.
What would have been wrong with pooching the ball to the corners, either for a recovery or to pin the Eagles deep?
A. There was nothing wrong with the pooch kick, and that’s how I first-guessed
Q. Delmas return: What did it mean to have
A. His impact was obvious, and not only because he intercepted a pass in the second quarter – the first for the Lions this season.
Delmas gave the defense an injection of energy. Players feed off him, and they did it Sunday – without any help from the offense.
Delmas was part of a massive overhaul of the secondary.
Q. Challenge: Coach Jim Schwartz challenged a play in the third quarter, when the officials ruled a pass was incomplete.
On first and goal at the three, Schwartz claimed Michael Vick had thrown a backward pass, and the Lions should have been given a recovery by
After a review, the call on the field stood up – incomplete pass, Eagles ball.
Good challenge by Schwartz?
A. There have been worse challenges – some by Schwartz, and some by other coaches.
It cost the Lions a timeout, but that wasn’t a big deal. They needed pass completions, and the defense to hold before the Eagles got into field-goal range.
Q. Best’s status: What do you expect to be announced Monday on whether Best has been cleared to practice?
A. I think he’ll be cleared, and that is based strictly on my own observations. When he spoke to the media last week, he was confident that he would be cleared.
Q. What happens if he’s cleared, and when would you expect him to play?
A. First things first. He’s on the PUP list now. If he’s cleared, he can practice for three weeks, and by the end of the third week, the Lions have to decide whether to put him on the active roster.
If he’s cleared to practice, I would expect him to be active for the Monday night game at Chicago. If he’s healthy, and he’s cleared, why wait?
Q. Which player is in jeopardy when Best returns?
A.
