Gave: Suh, Raiola trample an otherwise fine Lions season

You had to like the way the Detroit Lions competed Sunday at Green Bay, strapping on their big-boy pads and playing a man's game in the toughest of all places for a visiting team to win a football game. At least until Ndamukong Suh stepped up -- and onto the leg of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

You might even have liked the Lions chances as a wildcard road team to win a playoff game at Dallas this weekend. At least until Suh, his team's most important player on one of the league's best defenses, got suspended again on Monday because of that inexcusable, indefensible and unwarranted act of aggression against an already gimpy player lying on his back after a whistle.

The refs didn't see it, so no flag was thrown. But many in the Lambeau Field crowd of 80,000 did. So did the TV cameras, which gave the talking heads something to talk about. Of course, it also gave them a chance to roll the tape of Dominic Raiola stomping on the leg of Chicago's Ego Ferguson in the third quarter the week before -- resulting in Raiola's one-game suspension.

Two blatant, mortifying acts of unsportsmanlike conduct in consecutive weeks at the end of a 17-week season in which the Lions had otherwise shown so much progress, and promise. And they wonder why we keep calling them the same old Lions.

You had to like coach Jim Caldwell's chances of winning The Associated Press' NFL Coach of the Year honors for the way he turned around this sorry franchise so quickly. At least until Raiola and Suh stepped up -- and onto an opponent's leg. There are plenty of other good candidates: Bruce Arians in Arizona, especially for the way he kept his team together through quarterback injuries; Bill O'Brien in Houston, for another remarkable, first-year turnaround effort; and even Jason Garrett in Dallas, who has finally figured out how to win with all that talent.

But Caldwell was clearly the favorite heading into the final weeks of the season. He had made it a priority to instill some pride and discipline in a team that had precious little of either after five forgettable years under coach Jim Schwartz.

To his credit, Caldwell has publicly defended his players -- even when it puts him in a bad light. The coach said he believed Raiola when the veteran center said his cleats coming down on Ferguson's leg was inadvertent. And when asked about Suh's similar act of aggression on a defenseless player after Sunday's 30-20 loss, Caldwell said he didn't see it, but was certain Suh didn't do it on purpose.

In most incidents like these, football people typically prefer to wait to formulate a response until they see the video, because tapes don't lie. They didn't in either case the past few weeks, and Caldwell appeared to back off in his defense of Suh after he reviewed the film. Video evidence shows why Raiola was suspended for Sunday's game at Green Bay, and why the NFL acted so quickly after reviewing Suh's fancy footwork on Rodgers -- a leading MVP candidate who was playing courageously on a bum leg.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy saw enough of incident on the stadium Jumbotron to call Suh's trampling of Rodgers "ridiculous." That might be the nicest thing we can say about it.

Suh's suspension prevents him from playing in what is a very winnable game at Dallas. So perhaps we have seen the last of that kind of disgusting play out of Suh -- in a Lions uniform. Let him sign that $100 million free-agent contract with another club. Let this serial bully be someone else's embarrassing headache.

Enough is enough. Detroit fans, as Caldwell and several of his players have stated often this season, deserve better.

Caldwell has done a masterful job with these Lions in his first year. He has his team in a good place to win its first playoff game since 1991. Surely he's done enough to be considered a frontrunner for Coach of the Year honors.

But the way it looks right now, he'll probably lose. By a couple of feet.