A loss Sunday just further feeds the reactionary hype machine and makes the teams' job that much harder for having to deal with it. We can still have a fun, playoff-contending season in 2013, but if they're going to make that happen, it almost certainly has to start against Detroit. There is a chasm between 1-2 and 0-3 that might simply be too broad to overcome.
And another reason that a win here is so critical, is our schedule is absolutely brutal this year.
While Detroit is by no means an easy team to beat, they are actually one of the easier teams on our schedule, comparitively speaking. So, we HAVE to beat those few "easier" teams on our schedule, before we start facing teams like Denver, San Fran, Atlanta, etc.
Then again, there is a flip side.
This year is a truly crappy division, and it's conceivable that 9-7 or maybe even 8-8 could win this division. And even at 0-3, we will have only played one divisional opponent by that time.