The Lions should start Drew Stanton Sunday at San Francisco to find out if he is capable of being their primary backup to Matthew Stafford next season.
The expectation should be the Lions display significant progress next season in regard to wins. We're talking 6-to-8 wins. But it can't be that if Stafford misses a game or two because of injury, the Lions fall completely flat because of the quarterback position. Can Stanton win the Lions a game or two or three if called in for a short period?
Doesn't look like it.
Yet, in fairness to Stanton, how much of an opportunity has he really had? Give him a full week of practice with the first unit. Let him go from the start of the game and see how defenses react to him, and Stanton to defenses. It's obvious Daunte Culpepper isn't the answer to anything for the future. Don't think Stanton would do any worse if he were to start ahead of Culpepper this week.
Stanton didn't play well Sunday. The Lions rallied despite Stanton, not because of him. He was good on one drive, but the Cardinals inexplicably let him throw underneath. But it's not an ideal situation to go into a game at halftime down 17-0. Or to play at all when having not taken first-team reps in practice.
The Lions will have some options for veteran free agent backup quarterbacks in the off season - Chad Pennington, Rex Grossman, Senaca Wallace, Chris Redman and Kyle Boller are going to be unrestricted free agents.
The Lions should play Stanton Sunday so they can legitimately ask the following question: Is Drew Stanton better than all of the above?