The Detroit Lions deserve all the credit in the world for responding to adversity with a resounding victory against the Arizona Cardinals that really, in many ways, was a must-win.
Lose, especially with another poor defensive effort, and a full-blown panic would have ensued in Detroit. Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard’s next news conference might have required a parental-advisory warning – or at least an “OpenToWork” LinkedIn hashtag displayed on his podium.
Let’s be real, though. Not to be disrespectful to any NFL squad, but beating the Cards should be taken with a grain of salt. After all, the loss on Sunday, Oct. 11, dropped them to 1-4, tied for worst in the NFC, and the 45-21 thrashing gave the Cards the worst point differential in the league
while answering a lot of questions about the Lions' potential.
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As convincing as the win was, on both sides of the ball, even coach Dan Campbell knows his team’s effort needs to be better when it faces tougher tests against Green Bay and Minnesota immediately after this week’s bye.
“And I mentioned this last night: That's a step in the right direction,” he said Monday. “But to think that's going to be good enough for Green Bay, it's not. We still need to … clean up a lot more than that. And we can, and we will.”
Credit Campbell for cleaning things up and getting the most out of his players before heading to the desert. But how did he even find himself in the cleaning up business for Week 5 in the first place?
It’s reminds me a little of when a parent says, “Xander finally stopped smearing his feces all over the walls.” My initial reaction isn’t that I’m proud of Xander. It’s more like, how did you even allow Xander to smear his feces in the first place?
So what’s the next step? And how does Campbell take full advantage of the bye to do a deep dive into the challenges that face his team?
“Yeah, I told the staff what I really want to do is really by tomorrow night I want us to have a – who are we really? Or where do we think we're going, man?” he said. “What can we hang our hat on? What do we really feel like suits us well in all three phases? Who are our best players? Who are our best players in critical moments? Who are the players that are killing us in critical moments? And how do we adjust off of that a little bit? How do we protect ourselves in some areas?”
Campbell is talking about finding the identity of his team. It’s concerning that he’s still unsure of that after five weeks. But it’s a good sign that he can admit he doesn’t have the answer yet and that he’s willing to look in dark corners to discover uncomfortable truths.
“And so, I think we're five [games] in now and we've continued to evolve a little bit and we're mixing some things up,” he said. “But at this point now, we need to figure out what we really are and what we do well.”
Even without being in the Lions’ meeting rooms, I can tell Campbell who his team is: an elite offense with a good defensive line saddled with a bad secondary and a defense that doesn’t generate nearly enough takeaways.
Safety Brian Branch is expected back soon from an Achilles injury – presumably in time to face the Packers on Oct. 25 – which should greatly improve the secondary and generate more takeaways. The similarly impending return of center Cade Mays from a wrist injury should make the offense even more potent.
Those are two strong positives working in the Lions’ favor. But there are still too many questions about the defense’s back seven and whether defenders can consistently be in the right place.
“And this game, we had everybody fitting their gap properly,” Campbell said. “D-line fit their gaps properly again and we did on the perimeter. And so that was a team effort. It was a defensive effort across the board.
“And when you can have 10 guys, or nine guys if you're playing a post-safety look, that do it right and if one guy is out of his gap, it makes you look like you don't know what the heck's going on and you're soft and it's literally one person. So our guys did a good job. They locked in. We handled our business and it was good.
It was the most flawless defensive effort Sheppard’s squad has put forth in 2026. But can that effort and execution continue against Green Bay and Minnesota? Neither team is particularly thriving on offense, despite their combined 8-2 record – though both are much more well-rounded than the Cardinals.
The Lions’ next three games, against Green Bay, Minnesota and Miami, are very winnable. But Campbell and his coaches will have to crush their bye-week adjustments if they have any hope of gaining some momentum and returning to the playoffs.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.
Next up: Packers
Matchup: Lions (3-2) vs. Green Bay (3-2).
Kickoff: 4:25 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25; Ford Field, Detroit.
TV/radio: Fox; WXYT-FM (97.1).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions playoff hopes will come down to bye-week adjustments
