Lions Lowdown

DETROIT — Another game, another look on the offensive line for the Lions.

Center Travis Swanson was placed on injured reserve with a concussion on Friday.

So it appears the starters will be: Left tackle Taylor Decker, left guard Joe Dahl, center Graham Glasgow, right guard T.J. Lang and right tackle Rick Wagner.

The Lions (8-7) face the Green Bay Packers (7-8) at 1 p.m. at Ford Field. If the Lions win they would sweep the Packers and own a 5-1 record in the NFC North. Neither team will be in the playoffs.

It could be coach Jim Caldwell’s final game with the Lions after four seasons. No word from general manager Bob Quinn on his status.

Defensive end Anthony Zettel (groin) is in after he was listed as questionable in Friday’s report. He was limited in practice on Friday, after he had full practices on Wednesday and Thursday.

Cornerback Nevin Lawson (concussion) was ruled out on Friday.

Jack Billingsley was signed to the 53-man roster, but is inactive. He filled the spot created after Decker was placed on injured reserve.

Other Lions’ inactives: Running back Dwayne Washington, running back Zach Zenner, tackle Brian Mihalik, tight end Michael Roberts and defensive tackle Rodney Coe.

Packers inactives: WR Davante Adams, CB Damarious Randall, G Jahri Evans, RB Aaron Jones, WR Jordy Nelson, LB Chris Odom and TE Richard Rodgers.

Sunday’s game was supposed to be a huge NFC North divisional match-up with the Lions hosting the Packers in the regular season finale.

And then the season happened. The Lions (8-7) and Packers (7-8) aren’t going to the playoffs, but the game is on at Ford Field on Sunday. Kickoff is 1 p.m.

It is not meaningless.

“Right now, believe it or not, we’re all playing for something. Some guys are playing for their jobs, a spot on the team next year, maybe they move up the depth chart. There is something at stake here, let’s not lose track of that,’’ wide receiver Golden Tate said. “We want to go out and get a win. We want to be 5-1 in our division this year. Beat the Packers twice which has been rarely done. We’re competitive, that’s just how we’re born.’’”

(Photo courtesy of Detroit Lions)

Five things to watch on Sunday

1. Of course the Lions are going to play their starters. This is the NFL — they are only guaranteed 16 games per season and they work hard all year long just for the chance to play in those 16 games. It’s crazy to think otherwise. They are not looking to 2018 and what Jake Rudock can do. They are trying to win their final game this season. Hey, it’s not like they only play veterans throughout the season. They get rookies playing time regularly.

2. The offensive line will start its 11th different lineup Sunday. Center Travis Swanson was placed on injured reserve on Friday. It looks like you’ll see Taylor Decker at left tackle, Joe Dahl at left guard, Graham Glasgow at center, T.J. Lang at right guard and Rick Wagner at right tackle. The line has struggled all season due to injuries. Of all the position groups the offensive line is one that needs to play together regularly.

“You really value playing time playing together with each other as the offensive line. You really value those guys getting reps right next to each other, being able to communicate, being able to adjust as you go during a game,’’ offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said. “These things happen in the League. Different guys play next to each other. If you were able to start the same five guys 16 games in a row in a season, you would hope some of those things would be really clean on the sideline, in-game communication, those type of things. A little bit of it’s just a factor of reps.’’

3. Matthew Stafford will start his 112th straight game. He had a down week in the loss at Cincinnati after three excellent games in which he completed more than 80 percent of his passes. Expect the best from him against the Packers. In their first meeting this season — the Lions won 30-17 at Lambeau on Nov. 6 — Stafford threw for 361 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

4. Ziggy Ansah had three sacks in Cincinnati giving him nine for the season. It is not lost on the defensive end that just one more would push him into double-digits, always a goal for a sack master.  Remember he had just two sacks in 13 games in 2016. His career high was 14.5 in 2015.

5. This could be Jim Caldwell’s final game as the Lions coach. His record in four years is 35-28 in the regular season which is impressive by Lions’ standards. Three other NFL teams came out this week to say their coaches (who were thought to be on the hotseat) will return. General manager Bob Quinn could have done the same, but remained quiet. Caldwell was hired to win a championship and after four years he failed. The players love playing for him and you won’t find a better person than Caldwell. It’s a business, though.

Prediction: Lions 27, Packers 13

ALLEN PARK — No question, playoff expectations for the Lions have risen since Jim Caldwell arrived in Detroit in 2014.

It’s not good enough for Caldwell.

“I think, my job when I came here was not playoff talk. My job when I came here was to win it all. That’s what every coach is in it to do. And anything short of that is unacceptable, plain and simple,’’ Caldwell said on Thursday. “So, you keep trying to work at it, and try to get at that point to get it done. But there’s only one happy team at the end of the year, and that’s it in this league. Like I mentioned before, there are no bowl games. So, we just got to keep getting better.”

Caldwell has won two Super Bowl rings as an assistant — one with the Colts, the other with the Ravens. He also made it to the Super Bowl as head coach (his first year as an NFL head coach) with the Colts for the 2009 season, but lost to the Saints.

He was hired in Detroit to win a championship not to start a rebuilding process.

“Yesterday is not soon enough in our league. I mean, whether it’s one year or — my first year I went, so how many does it take? It depends. But the job, the object is to get it done and you better get it done as quickly as you can. That’s the key in our league.”

Golden Tate also knows what it takes to win a Super Bowl.

In February 2014, a month before he signed as a free agent, he won Super Bowl XLVIII as a member of the Seattle Seahawks.

The wide receiver is wrapping his fourth season in Detroit. The Lions play the Packers at Ford Field. A win will give them a 9-7 winning record for the season but no chance of a trip to the playoffs.

“Although records and playoff wins haven’t changed, it feels different around here, it feels different. I think we are moving in the right direction, I think we are closer,’’ Tate said. “You look back specifically at this year. This season is totally different if you give us a dozen plays back, we’re right there, we’re close we’re also what the record is. This is a great sports town we’re going to get it together hopefully sooner rather than later. We could do worse, we could be 2-14.’’

Tate was signed a few months after Jim Caldwell was named head coach. He sees the Lions being closer to Super Bowl contention now than they were when he first joined the team.

“I think we have, to me, a great coaching staff, the ownership is fantastic, Bob Quinn is coming in and making some great moves to give us a shot,’’ Tate said. “You just look at, we aren’t getting blown out every week, I feel like we’re pretty close, there are some minor things we need to get a little bit better.’’

After 15 games, the Lions own the NFL’s worst rushing attack averaging just 78 yards per game and the sixth-best passing game with 258.5 yards per game.

They’ve been to the postseason two of the past three seasons, but still have not won a playoff game since the 1991 season.

It’s a big jump from having playoff expectations every season to actually making it to the postseason and winning.

“At the end of the day this is the NFL, the best athletes in the world, we have some of the best coaches in the world, we’re all getting paid to do a job,’’ Tate said. “I don’t think it’s ever going to be easy. We have to keep chugging away, keep working hard, keep bringing in great draft picks. keep bringing in people who know how to win, who expect to win, the environment it is changing, it’s going to change.’’

Sounds good but if Quinn and the Ford family have run out of patience, then Caldwell could be coaching his final game with the Lions on Sunday.