(My Sportsbook) - The Detroit Lions have reached their Waterloo. The opposing army is the Green Bay Packers, the battlefield is Lambeau Field, and the price of a loss is a certain exile to a private island reserved for the worst team in NFL history.

The Lions reached a new low in last Sunday's 42-7 thrashing at the hands of the New Orleans Saints, becoming the first team in NFL annals to lose their first 15 games in a season.

The 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers - the only team since World War II to lose all of its games - finished 0-14 in their first season of existence and were spared the indignity of having to play another game thanks to a shorter, pre- schedule-expansion slate.

The 1980 New Orleans Saints were the only other club that had started 0-14, though they gutted out a win in game 15 to finish 1-15 and avoid the kind of ignominy the Lions will stare down on Sunday.

Detroit has finished winless previously, going 0-11 in a 1942 campaign that saw the war-depleted Lions outscored by a composite of 263-38. With the loss in its home finale to New Orleans last week, the 2008 team became the first group of Lions since that club to fail to notch a win during the home portion of its home schedule.

Rod Marinelli's club has now lost 16 straight games since a home win over the Kansas City Chiefs last Dec. 23rd, and is 1-22 in its past 23 games overall.

In addition to avoiding 0-16, the Lions will on Sunday be attempting to snap an 11-game road losing streak that has followed a win at Soldier Field over the Bears last Oct. 28.

Things aren't nearly as bleak for the homestanding Packers, though there is little question that their 2008 season has come with its own share of disappointment.

Following Monday night's 20-17 overtime loss at the Chicago Bears, Mike McCarthy's team is now 5-10, and just one season after going 13-3 and coming within an overtime loss of playing for a Super Bowl title.

The loss at Soldier Field was the continuation of a nightmarish stretch that has seen Green Bay lose seven of its past eight games following a 4-3 start. A win on Sunday will allow the Pack to avoid carrying a six-game losing streak into the offseason, which would mark the worst ending of a Green Bay campaign since the 1958 team dropped its final seven en route to a 1-10-1 finish in head coach Ray "Scooter" McLean's lone year at the helm.

McLean resigned after the '58 season, and the organization subsequently hired little-known New York Giants assistant coach Vince Lombardi to lead the team.

SERIES HISTORY

The series between the Lions and Packers dates back to the 1930 season, with Green Bay holding a 85-64-7 regular season edge. The Pack has won six straight and eight of the last nine in the series, including a 48-25 win at Ford Field in Week 2 and a 34-13 decision at Lambeau Field in Week 17 of last year. Detroit's last victory over Green Bay came by a 17-3 count in Week 1 of the 2005 campaign in the Motor City. The Lions have lost 16 consecutive regular season road games in the series, including 13 straight years at Lambeau Field, and from 1992 through 1994 at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Lions' last road win in the series came in 1991.

In addition to the regular season series, the clubs have met twice in the postseason, with Green Bay winning NFC First-Round Playoff matchups in the 1993 and 1994 seasons.

Including playoffs, the Lions have lost 14 in a row at Lambeau Field, and 17 straight road games in the series.

McCarthy leads the series with both the Lions and Marinelli, 5-0.

WHEN THE LIONS HAVE THE BALL

Five different quarterbacks have thrown passes for the Lions this season, and it would appear that this week's spinning wheel will land, for the third straight week, on Dan Orlovsky (1391 passing yards, 6 TD, 6 INT). One week after playing well in a narrow loss at Indianapolis the previous week, Orlovsky took a step back against the Saints, completing just 10-of-23 passes for 125 yards with two interceptions before being pulled in favor of Drew Stanton (119 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT) late in the loss. As ever, Detroit's top two weapons on Sunday will be wide receiver Calvin Johnson (69 receptions, 10 TD) and running back Kevin Smith (884 rushing yards, 7 TD, 36 receptions). Johnson is approaching 1,300 yards despite having to work with a litany of signal- callers this year, while Smith is within 116 yards of recording a 1,000-yard season for a team that has had to throw a ton due to all the huge deficits it has encountered. The third-leading touchdown scorer on the team is running back Rudi Johnson (237 rushing yards, 12 receptions), who has scored twice and has had a total of three carries in his past four games. A poor Detroit o-line has surrendered 51 sacks on the year, including two last week.

After struggling for weeks against opposing passing attacks, the Green Bay secondary regained some of its previous top form in Monday's loss at the Bears. Safeties Nick Collins (67 tackles, 6 INT) and Charles Woodson (59 tackles, 6 INT, 3 sacks) each notched picks of Kyle Orton in the loss, and a cornerback group led by Tramon Williams (54 tackles, 5 INT) and Al Harris (16 tackles) helped limit Chicago wide receivers to just three catches for 28 yards. Collins enters the week leading the NFL in interceptions for touchdowns (3) and interception return yards (258), with one of those pick-sixes coming against the Lions in Week 2. Woodson also had an interception return for a TD in that game, and the Green Bay defense has an NFL-best six pick-sixes on the year. Packers end Michael Montgomery (54 tackles, 2.5 sacks) accounted for half of the team's total of three sacks on Monday night, a rare game when end Aaron Kampman (56 tackles, 9.5 sacks) didn't find himself alone in the sack column. The Packers front seven has been soft against the run for much of the year, as A.J. Hawk (81 tackles, 3 sacks) has not fared well since moving to middle linebacker and the team has received little push from the likes of Johnny Jolly (45 tackles) and Ryan Pickett (45 tackles, 1.5 sacks) up front. Pickett had five tackles in the Bears loss, and helped limit Matt Forte to 73 yards on 23 carries on the frigid night. Green Bay is 26th in the league against the run (133.9 yards per game) as Week 17 begins.

WHEN THE PACKERS HAVE THE BALL

It is difficult to lay the Packers' recent struggles at the feet of quarterback Aaron Rodgers (3730 passing yards, 25 TD, 13 INT), given the play of a defense that has allowed 30 points per game during the team's winning streak, but the first-year starter has failed to deliver big plays and notable drives in crunch time during the skein. On Monday, the former first-rounder threw for 260 yards on 24-of-39 passing with two touchdowns and an interception, but did not deliver a scoring drive of longer than 20 yards after halftime. He should have things easier against the porous Lions defense this week, which should also spell big things for wideouts Greg Jennings (75 receptions, 9 TD) and Donald Driver (68 receptions, 4 TD). Each player had six receptions in the loss at Chicago, and Jennings chipped in with his ninth touchdown of the year in the win. Running back Ryan Grant (1097 rushing yards, 15 receptions, 5 TD) didn't have a great night on the ground, managing just 61 yards on 25 carries, but did score a touchdown on a 17-yard pass play in the second quarter. The Packer line has allowed 30 sacks on the year, but did not surrender one against the Bears.

When the epitaphs are written for the Lions, they'll say that the team's primary problem was defense. Detroit ranks last in the league in total defense (399.1 yards per game), scoring defense (32.4 points per game), rushing defense (169.5 yards per game), touchdowns allowed (59), rushing touchdowns allowed (30), yards allowed per rush (4.99), rushes allowed of 20 yards or longer (23), interceptions recorded (4), and are allowing opponents to convert an NFL-high-tying 75 percent of fourth-downs. There is very little that the unit does well, although certain individuals on the unit - most notably outside linebacker Ernie Sims (106 tackles, 1 sack) and promising rookie defensive end Cliff Avril (20 tackles, 4 sacks) - have had their moments. Sims had a team-high-tying nine tackles against the Saints last week, and Avril forced a Pierre Thomas fumble that was recovered by cornerback Leigh Bodden (66 tackles, 1 INT). Bodden and Travis Fisher (36 tackles) figure to match up with Jennings and Driver on Sunday, with safeties Kalvin Pearson (73 tackles, 1 sack) and Daniel Bullocks (90 tackles) helping out over the top.

FANTASY FOCUS

Let it be remembered that perhaps the first 0-16 team in NFL history had two terrific fantasy football players. Johnson has been an unquestioned stud, contributing 60-plus yards in each of his last eight games, and scoring touchdowns in eight of his previous 10 contests before being shut out of the end zone last week. Veteran kicker Jason Hanson is also having a strong year, making good on 21-of-22 field goals, including 8-of-8 on kicks of 50 yards or longer. Elsewhere on the team, Smith is just 116 yards shy of 1,000 and might get it against a shaky Green Bay run defense.

Those holding fantasy championships in Week 17 will be very pleased if they own Packers principles like Rodgers, Grant Jennings, Driver, tight end Donald Lee, kicker Mason Crosby, or even a Packers defense that figures to have a nice day against a Lions team adept at throwing pick-sixes. Because of the matchup, starting anyone wearing a Green Bay uniform is a must this week.

OVERALL ANALYSIS

And so, it has come down to this for the Lions. a winless dome team traveling to one of the coldest places on the planet to try to pull off a victory in a building where it hasn't won since M.C. Hammer had money. The fact that the Packers are 5-10 might be somewhat reassuring to the Lions and their hopeful fans, but Green Bay has lost a bunch of tight games to good teams this year and is too talented to allow itself to limp into the offseason with a six-game losing streak. It's going to take a cataclysmic series of events for Detroit to win this game, and sadly, the '08 Lions will always be remembered for being on the business end of the cataclysms.

My Sportsbook Predicted Outcome: Packers 31, Lions 10