Will Heller News

The Lions' offense remains stuck in neutral. And they still can't win on the road, falling 20-6 to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Candlestick Park.

TE Casey FitzSimmons will join RB Kevin Smith on injured reserve today, and the Lions have made at least two moves to replace them.

Last Sunday, the Detroit Lions went on the road to face one of the five best scoring defenses in the NFL.

The Lions made a roster move Saturday, releasing receiver Eric Fowler and signing tight end Jake Nordin from their practice squad.

Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz said after practice today that tight end Casey Fitzsimmons probably will not play Sunday at Baltimore as he continues to deal with a concussion he sustained at Cincinnati.

Lions tight end Casey FitzSimmons, who was shaken up in the fourth quarter of the loss to the Bengals, did not practice again Thursday because of concussion-like symptoms.

If he doesn't play another down this season, Matthew Stafford has been through enough to have compiled a full body of work for his rookie season.

The Lions lost another game away from home Sunday, extending their road skid to 18 games with a 23-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium.

Seventh-round pick Dan Gronkowski replaces tight end Brandon Pettigrew on the Detroit Lions' roster.

Nothing gets a player's attention like being sent to the bench. "I'm a much better player and teammate than I was a couple of weeks ago,'' said Detroit Lions rookie running back Aaron Brown, who was benched two weeks ago and responded with a big game last week against the Cleveland Browns.

The Lions will sign tight end Dan Gronkowski from their practice squad Monday when they put Brandon Pettigrew on the injured reserve list, s league source said.

Lions rookie tight end Brandon Pettigrew has a "significant" left knee injury that will require season-ending surgery, the team said Friday.

The dramatic finish isn't the only thing NFL Films caught when it wired Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford during Sunday's 38-37 victory over Cleveland.

After building a 21-point lead in the first quarter, the Browns now must come from behind to get their second victory.

We have a barnburner here of sorts. Minnesota capitalized on an early second-half fumble to take a 14-point lead but hasn't been able to land a knockout punch on Detroit.

That's a final - Lions fall to the Vikings 27-10. Free Press sports writer Carlos Monarrez is live-blogging today's Lions-Vikings game.

Vikings coach Brad Childress looks for improvement every week when his team steps on the field.

The Lions could've had Adrian Peterson. All day, in fact. But that's the thing about game-breaking talent in the NFL: You can't have what you can't catch -- or tackle.

If it wasn't 1-7, it couldn't have been far off. The Lions are coming off the NFL's first 0-16 season.

It's not because the Lions have won one game this year that earned them a "D" for a midseason grade.