It’s always interesting what stories the snap counts from a game tell about a team. For the Detroit Lions in the Week 14 loss to the Chicago Bears, it shows a team that made some questionable personnel choices.
Take the running back splits. David Montgomery played just 23 of the Lions’ 65 offensive snaps. Jahmyr Gibbs has taken over the lead-back role lately and that was reinforced in Chicago, with the rookie playing 41 snaps. Both Gibbs and Montgomery rushed for 66 yards in the game. Third RB Craig Reynolds played one. Montgomery played just one of Detroit’s 11 snaps in the third quarter.
Blocking was stable in this one. Kayode Awosika got the starting nod at right guard with Graham Glasgow playing center for the injured Frank Ragnow. The entire starting line played all 65 reps. Extra tackle Dan Skipper was on the field for five. Blocking tight end, James Mitchell played 11 snaps and still hasn’t seen one passing game target for the entire season.
Jameson Williams continues to grow into the No. 2 receiver role, trailing only Amon-Ra St. Brown (57) in snaps with his 38. That’s two more than Josh Reynolds, who led the Lions in receiving in Week 14 with three catches for 44 yards and a touchdown. Williams got one target and one handoff in his time on the field.
Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson continues to play almost every snap. In this game, Hutchinson played 64 of the 71 defensive reps, a 90 percent rate. Hutchinson played very well and is in tremendous physical shape, but leaning on a pass rusher to go for 90 percent of the snaps is asking a lot. It’s a reflection that the team doesn’t trust the defensive front without its top player.
The EDGE snap count breakdown:
Hutchinson: 64
John Cominsky: 50
Julian Okwara: 17
Romeo Okwara: 8
Isaiah Buggs got the majority of the Alim McNeill replacement reps at DT, playing 43 of the 71 available snaps. Rookie Brodric Martin didn’t record a stat, but he was on the field for six snaps in his first action since Week 8. Levi Onwuzurike also failed to record a stat in 14 reps.
Kindle Vildor made his Lions debut in the secondary with 17 reps. Some of those came at the expense of Jerry Jacobs, who played 53 snaps, or 75 percent. Veteran safety Tracy Walker did not play on defense, only appearing on special teams.
Two defenders only played one snap: LB Malcolm Rodriguez and DB Will Harris. Rodriguez did not appear at fullback in this game.