By: Joe Lami

The reeling San Francisco 49ers (4-10) are coming off a ten-point loss to the Cincinnati Bengals having dropped four of their last five games. The road ahead won’t get any easier for San Francisco, who will have to take on the surging Detroit Lions (5-9), trying to win their fifth game in their last seven tries.

Detroit quarterback, Matthew Stafford has been a big part of the Lions’ resurgence, posting a 107.4 quarterback rating in December. He’s coming off a big game in a win over the Saints, in which he tossed for 254 yards and three touchdowns while throwing just three incomplete passes.

Stafford shouldn’t have too many problems airing out the ball on Sunday — the 49ers rank 26th in the NFL in total passing defense, and gave up 192 yards and a touchdown to Bengals’ backup quarterback AJ McCarron last week.

Despite lacking a feature back, Detroit’s running game has also been on the upswing as of late. Ameer Abdullah, Theo Riddick, and Joique Bell have combined to average 5.3 yards per carry in December, leading the Lions to break the 100-yard rushing benchmark in five straight games. However, the Niners had an uncharacteristic big time performance last week locking down Cincinnati’s run game, holding the Bengals to just 68 yards on 36 carries (2.1 YPC).

The 49ers have really struggled on the road this season, winning just one of their first seven games — thankfully for them, Sunday at Ford Field will round out their road schedule.