Detroit @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 9, 2012 ) St. Louis 23, Detroit 27

The Detroit Lions have had over a week to recover from their Hail Mary home loss to the rival Green Bay Packers but don’t look like they’ll have enough time to rejoin the playoff race. The Lions will try to take advantage of another team struggling to turn things around when they visit the St. Louis Rams on Sunday.

Detroit began the season 1-7 before winning three in a row to perk up expectations, but the Week 13 final-second loss to the Packers likely ended any slim hope of a wild-card run. The Lions’ turnaround began shortly after the team made a change at offensive coordinator, elevating Jim Bob Cooter to the position, and the Rams are hoping a similar change provides a similar result. St. Louis, which ranks 31st in scoring at an average of 15.4 points, relieved Frank Cignetti of his duties as offensive coordinator and promoted tight ends coach Rob Boras to the position following last week’s 27-3 loss to Arizona. "It was, in my estimation, time to move in a different direction,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher told reporters. “Our focus is on the future of this offense, the future of this football team, and I felt like this was the best thing we could do."

TV: 1 p.m. ET, FOX. LINE: Lions -2.5. O/U: 41

ABOUT THE LIONS (4-8): Detroit coach Jim Caldwell is ready to move on from the tough loss and is concentrating on getting his team to play consistently and build some momentum over the last month of the season. “We’ve been through a real rough patch,” Caldwell told reporters. “It was real tough – to get a team to hang in there together and to focus and get it turned around where they’re playing consistently, I think in itself, is a lot more difficult than what you’re talking about because I think it’s over a long span of time.” One player displaying more consistency under the new offensive coordinator is quarterback Matthew Stafford, who has nine touchdown passes and one interception in his last four games.

ABOUT THE RAMS (4-8): St. Louis ranks last in the NFL in passing with an average of 178 yards but is ready to make a change at quarterback, with Case Keenum cleared to return after passing the concussion protocol. “To have the opportunity like this, obviously it’s a tough part of the season, but honestly, I’m not looking at what’s happened,” he told reporters. “I’m not looking ahead, I’m looking at today and how did practice today go.” Keenum managed 136 yards and one touchdown on 12-of-26 passing in his lone start at Baltimore before going down in that game.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Lions DE Ezekiel Ansah (hamstring/elbow), WR Calvin Johnson (ankle) and WR Lance Moore (ankle) all were limited in practice but are expected to play.

2. Rams CB Janoris Jenkins (concussion) sat out practice on Thursday and still is in the protocol.

3. St. Louis RB Todd Gurley has been limited to a total of 60 yards on 18 carries in the last two games.

PREDICTION: Lions 35, Rams 14