This was supposed to be the week the Detroit Lions returned to .500 and revived their playoff hopes. Instead, Lions fans are being deluged with the dreaded 0-2 stats (only 12 percent that start out so poorly make the playoffs, according to ESPN) and are losing their faith faster than an emo '90s song.
It's the nature of the business. When things aren't going well, the pessimism starts to win out, especially when there haven't been many signs of improvement.
That's why we must measure which players are actually trending upward.