Shawn-Livererance-Column-logo-ESPN’s Trent Dilfer summed it best on the latest Lions debacle.

“It was all there for them and they threw up on themselves,” Dilfer said after Detroit’s improbable 18-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night.

Dilfer could not have summed it up any better.

As gut-wrenching as it was to see Justin Tucker’s 61-yard barely make it the over the crossbar, it should have been expected.

We have seen this before, but this one might have hurt the most.

By losing four of their last five games, the Lions have lost their control on the NFC and no longer control their playoff chances.

Despite getting swept by Detroit, Chicago controls its own destiny in the division race. And if the Bears falter, the Packers, who went 0-4-1 in the month of November, are next in line at the moment.

For the Lions to win their division — which they haven’t done since 1993 — they must win their last two games and Chicago and Green Bay have to lose at least once.

The Bears and Packers play the final Sunday at Soldier Field so the winner of that game MUST lose this Sunday.

So, still thinking the Lions are going to make the playoffs?

Think again, it is not going to happen and when it doesn’t things need to change.

And that should start with head coach Jim Schwartz and his whole coaching staff.

The Lions have dropped the most passes, thrown the most picks and committed the most turnovers in the NFL over the past five games.

These problems have become common place and that is what is holding back Detroit.

It’s what has plagued this organization for much of Schwartz’s five-year tenure and why he should be fired.

It is not because of the loss to the Ravens, but it should be for the last two years of losses that I don’t think will ever be corrected with Schwartz running the show.

It is the same old thing week after week with the Lions and Schwartz is to blame.

How many dumb penalties can the Lions continue to take every week?

Or how about the undisciplined play very week?

This falls on Schwartz and for the past two seasons the same old problems exist every week,

How can Detroit, which is third in offense in the NFL continually, lose to teams they should beat, including the Ravens on Monday night.

The Lions continue to lose to teams of equal or lesser talent and they do it week in and week out by shooting themselves in the foot and that squarely falls on the head coach.

Although I put most of the blame on Schwartz and the coaching staff, quarterback Matthew Stafford also deserves to carry his share of the blame during this late-season meltdown.

Stafford is playing some of the worst football of his career and Monday’s game could have been the most disappointing game of his career.

Stafford has 13 picks in his last seven games and that makes it nearly impossible to win football games in the NFL.

His mechanics are horrible throwing sidearm and off his back foot all the time.

Whose job is it to fix Stafford and his shortcomings at the quarterback position – Jim Schwartz.

Schwartz must bear much of the responsibility for Stafford’s poor play, but. he continues to endorse Stafford the risk-taker with his various funky release points in his throwing motion.

He’s always quick to forgive the mistakes as an inevitable consequence of a talented quarterback trying to make plays.

But, the irony is that Stafford’s poor performance in the second half of the season probably will cost Schwartz his job and it should.

Schwartz deserves credit for taking over after that 0-16 season and restoring respectability. The run to the playoffs in 2011 was a surprise and suggested Detroit was headed in the right direction after years of futility.

But the Lions regressed in 2012, losing their final eight games and finishing 4-12 in a season that was marred with many of the same mistakes that we still see.

Detroit is 7-7 this year, despite immense talent, a favorable schedule and playing in the worst division in the NFL.

If it can’t win the division this year, with everything swinging its way it never will under Schwartz.

That is why it is time for a coaching change – AGAIN.