Not even going to lie, I’m not sure what to call this piece. Essentially, just join me for a therapy session where we put it all out on the table and talk this one out. It’s needed after the Detroit Lions just got embarrassed on the road against the Chicago Bears.
Losing always sucks, and winning in the NFL is a tough thing to do. But this Lions football team has had dominating performances this season and gritty wins where they scratch and claw back. In Chicago, they looked flat and unprepared.
Throughout the season, the Lions have been near the top of lists for one of the better teams in the NFL. Unfortunately, the last four or five weeks have told a different story. It appears that the coaching staff isn’t making in-game adjustments and if they do, they’re very limited.
Defensively, I’m not even sure where to begin. Recently, I wrote an article breaking down the poor fundamentals and coaching decisions made defensively. I stand by that article, and while there have been some improvements in generating more pressure, the defense has been hindered by poor play calls, coverage lapses, and undisciplined play. The game against the Bears today showed that.
During parts of the game, Aaron Glenn would call line stunts with his defensive line, but against a mobile quarterback, why wouldn’t you just try to contain him? Furthermore, why not use your best edge rusher (Aidan Hutchinson) to continue to set the edge?
Instead, it’s 3rd-and-goal, and you have him twist inside so a defensive tackle can try to chase down Justin Fields. And if a line stunt wasn’t called, then shame on Hutchinson for playing undisciplined and not staying on the outside.
Additionally, the coverage lapses continue to happen every single week. The Lions make mediocre quarterbacks look good by letting them get in rhythm with ease. Derek Carr of the Saints was torching Detroit before he got hurt. Jordan Love of the Packers had one of his best games against the Lions on Thanksgiving. And Lamar Jackson had arguably the best game of his career against Detroit in Week 7 this year. Outside of the lucky bounce to Brian Branch against the Saints, it feels like it’s been weeks since the Lions’ secondary has made a play with any type of significance.
Sure, there was a drive today that got extended for the Bears on a missed call. On 3rd down, there should have been an intentional grounding call made on Fields. However, that doesn’t mean players should just stop making plays. The missed call led to Hutchinson jumping offsides on 4th-and-13. Fields fired a deep pass to D.J. Moore for a touchdown. This gave the Bears the lead and they never looked back.
We can blame the officials for missing the intentional grounding, but the defense just needed to make the stop. If the Lions come out with a two-high safety look on 4th and 13, why is Aaron Glenn calling for his free safety to become a buzz defender? Is he trusting Jerry Jacobs to run in stride with D.J. Moore, or was it a miscue on the defenders? It’s hard to tell without being in the room, but either way, it’s frustrating that these miscues continue on a weekly basis.
That leads me to the offense where offensive coordinator Ben Johnson gets a lot of “free passes” in Detroit. Much of that is due to his success in the first half and the creativity he’s had with the offense. However, his game plans in the second half have been dreadful in recent weeks. None was worse than in Chicago.
The Lions were held to zero points in the second half today. This is while the execution from Jared Goff and the offense remained terrible. Every drive was stalled by false starts and delay of game penalties. Meanwhile, when the run game would get going, Ben Johnson would change gears and try to have Goff throw the ball.
This is odd since it felt like Goff never got in rhythm, and he potentially had the worst game of his Lions career today. He went 20-of-35 for 161 yards and a touchdown. Additionally, he had two interceptions, was sacked four times and had a costly fumble that led to a Bears touchdown.
Since Week 7, Goff has thrown seven interceptions and has had four fumbles lost. It is hard to win football games when you take the ball out of the hands of your playmakers and put it in the hands of your quarterback — who continues to make mistakes.
Now don’t get me wrong; Goff doesn’t deserve 100% of the blame. We all know the type of quarterback that he is because we’ve seen it throughout his career. But, his pass-catchers did him no favors today. Amon-Ra St. Brown had three drops today, and Jahmyr Gibbs had one that looked destined to be a touchdown. The Gibbs drop led to the Lions going for it on 4th-and-10 from the Bears 35-yard line and ultimately, the drive ended in an interception. Give Goff like 95% of the blame.
One of my biggest gripes for the offense — why did the Lions stop running the football? Running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery were both averaging 6.0 yards per carry. For a team that has been identified to run the ball and play smash-mouth football, they sure have lost their way.
They’re passing on 1st-and-10s and running on 3rd-and-10s. It’s real head-scratching stuff for an offensive coordinator who once upon a time had a bag full of tricks. Now it feels like all he’s got is an empty bag and potentially a one-way ticket out of town to become the head coach for another team.
It feels like the Lions are just reliant on fighting and bully their way to victory. However, when a team fights and continues to punch back, this Lions football team plays differently. When it happens, they make mistakes and lose their identity. At least, that’s what’s been happening as of late.
That brings up the question on if the Lions have lost their way? It’s starting to feel like it. About a month ago, it felt like they were going to walk away with their first division title since 1993. Even though they appear to be a certainty to get into the playoffs, it’s hard to believe that they’ll make any type of push with their current play.
I know the coaches and players are going to “ignore the noise” and not hang their head on one loss. That’s what they’re supposed to do. But they’re also supposed to make adjustments during the game and, most importantly, win the games they’re supposed to win.
This game in Chicago could have been a win. It should have been a win.
One of the main reasons it should have been a win is that going into this game, there were a lot of questions surrounding the Chicago Bears. Much of it was surrounding their head coach Matt Eberflus. There’s been plenty of belief that he was entering this game on the hot seat. This opened up questions on if Justin Fields was going to be the future quarterback of the team. It even led to Fields being asked about it from the media.
The distractions were there for the Bears and they still found a way to look past them. For Eberflus, he had never won back-to-back games as a head coach. He did that for the first time in his career after beating the Lions today.
With far too many close calls in recent weeks and not much changing, I start to wonder if the potential of this team has already passed them by for this season. Are they just too many players away still from being the championship contender we all hoped they were? Have the injuries caught up with them? Is Jared Goff really going to be the guy in Detroit for the next four or five years? How long can Aaron Glenn keep getting away with his blunders on defense?
All of these questions continue to circle in my head. This is unfortunate since this team is entering the final month of the season. There’s a lot to fix, and it’s all fixable, but the question is, can this Lions team fix it? I sure hope they don’t end like all of the other teams we’ve seen before them…with heartbreak and disappointment.
