It was clear that not having WR Calvin Johnson was a big detriment for QB Matthew Stafford and the rest of the Lions' offense in their 17-10 loss Sunday to the previously winless Rams. But the Lions must establish other outlets for yardage and scoring production. It would be wrong for Lions fans to give up hope for their young quarterback, who has made strides, but it also is painfully obvious that the team has serious holes in need of repair.

The PFW spin

The Lions are far from a complete offensive team. Without Johnson, the offense was in disrepair, but it shouldn't be this precipitous a dropoff without him. There is the supposedly capable Bryant Johnson, the solid Dennis Northcutt and emerging rookie TE Brandon Pettigrew. But all of them left Stafford out to dry by dropping catchable balls Sunday. Rookie Derrick Williams showed that he still is not game-ready after also contributing to the drop party. And this all happened against a Rams defense that was without its best young defensive back, Bradley Fletcher, and starting a less-than-great foursome in the secondary.

"Our guys need to make those plays when they're given the opportunity," head coach Jim Schwartz said.

RBs Kevin Smith and Maurice Morris ran hard and totaled 176 yards from scrimmage on 35 combined touches and made some nice plays to get first downs and move the chains. That was mostly good. But the backfield could use a dose of speed, too.

Still, the biggest problem now is the lack of a second or third receiver who can step up and be a No. 1 option when the go-to guy, Calvin Johnson, is out. Stafford constantly checked down and ignored deep routes, only hitting Bryant Johnson on a 36-yarder downfield. Until the final desperation drive, the rest of his throws were short and intermediate, and several of those that should have been caught were not. Bryant Johnson is not that guy; he might be a decent third option, but he had a mostly poor game Sunday and has shown that he doesn't perform well when given any kind of additional coverage.

The offensive line is an issue, too. Jon Jansen, playing his first game at left guard, was not great. He was called for holding on back to back plays, only bailed out on the first one because of offsetting penalties. Smith appeared to have most of his success running behind C Dominic Raiola and catching passes to the right side. Rams DE Leonard Little (one sack, several pressures) was giving Lions ORT Gosder Cherilus fits up front. This is not a dominant group, and the tight ends didn't give much help either. Pettigrew was called for holding, and Will Heller was flagged twice for false starting.

Some of these problems can't be fixed until the offseason, but the Lions have to help out their young quarterback in order to win games down the stretch.