Golden Tate says his current on-field slump is almost all mental.

The Detroit Lions benched Tate for a majority of the second half in Week 4. The wide receiver is marred in the worst three-game stretch of his career.

"There's multiple things, I think," Tate said. "I think it's all between my ears, it's all in my head -- how I perceive different situations, myself at times, and even others. I think at the end of the day I need to control what I can control, and I can control how I show up to work every day. I can control when the ball comes my way, what I do with it, and that's just what I need to focus on.

"That's what I can control."

Jim Caldwell said earlier this week Tate is still a starter for the offense, and he expects big things from him the rest of the season. Jim Bob Cooter expects Tate to begin to break out as soon as this weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles.

"Golden is and will be a really important player for our offense this year. The ball is getting spread around," Cooter said. "Last week, it really didn't get to enough guys, period. We all wanted to get more catches and get more touches and try and keep the drives going, and we just didn't do it.

"Golden's going to step up and have a huge week this week. I think Golden's going to step up and have a big rest of the year. I'm excited about where he's going from here."