The sports teams in the city of Detroit had a weekend.
The Detroit Red Wings kicked things off on Friday, and before the season even started, the fans voiced their frustration with Dylan Larkin, mercilessly booing the former captain. Within five minutes of the puck dropping, the Hockeytown faithful summed up their thoughts on ownership in just three words. Less than 24 hours later, Simon Edvinsson, the team’s young and promising defenseman—think Year 2 Jack Campbell—informed the team he’d prefer to be traded
than sign another contract.
Signs sat outside on the porch of one condo on Woodward facing LCA: “Sell the team, Chris.” “Red Wings fans deserve better.”
The scene in Detroit Sunday, when I went down there for the Red Wings game against the Winnipeg Jets, it reminded me of that era of Lions football. The “Millen Man March” in December of 2005 came after the Lions went an abysmal 20-57 over a stretch of football games from 2001 to 2005. It was the lowest of lows for Lions fans both young and old.
“Sunday Night Football” was an opportunity to wipe away the bewilderment brought on by the 2026 Detroit Red Wings. Their season was over before it began because of poor direction from leadership. Here’s to hoping this 2026 Detroit Lions team doesn’t fall victim to the same pitfalls.
Because point blank, Detroit needs to do something to improve their secondary. Additional help at safety and a cornerback could both be used back there, but it isn’t going to mean a single thing if the person pulling the levers and pushing the buttons wants to spam Cover 0. Carolina ran the RPO so effective because Bryce Young could identify the pressure and get the ball into the space the defender had vacated. The Panthers ran the football on the Lions: Chuba Hubbard averaged 6.1 yards per carry across 20 carries but had a long of just 32.
Sunday night’s takeaway is that the leadership on the defensive ball needs to be better. It needs to be built to cater and accentuate the strengths of its current personnel, not who they want to be when they’re at “full health.” The former linebackers coach has got to get those guys back on track. Jack Campbell looks like he’s playing not to make a mistake—and in turn, making mistakes.
The vibes are way off. This defense is historically bad through four games. Detroit has allowed the third-most points per game (31.8) in the last 40 years, only outdone by… the Lions in 2008 (32.3) and 2020 (32.4). It’s hard on a weekend like this to see this defensive performance and not think about some of the other dysfunctional moments when this defense was absolutely dreadful. To think this team could be 3-1, maybe even 4-0 if they had a defense that wouldn’t let a team score 21-unanswered points on three straight drives to start a game, it’s remarkable. Not world beaters. Not Brian Flores and what he’s doing with much, much less—they rank 28th in spending on defensive players in the NFL, and only one player makes north of $10 million (Andrew Van Ginkel).
If Kelvin Sheppard could even get this defense to be slightly below average, it’d help me forget about the territory this defense is headed toward. And after missing out on Joey Porter Jr., is Brad Holmes going to keep checking in with teams ahead of November’s trade deadline? Do the Lions have that much time to wait around and see if Brian Branch makes the difference? What’s going to happen during that upcoming bye week after the team travels to the desert to play a beatable Arizona Cardinals team? Do the Lions have time to wait around and see if the defense can avoid being as porous as its been?
Only two people could answer these questions, and they’re the two leaders of this football team in Holmes and Dan Campbell. It’s more than just cleaning up and fixing a few things here or there for Campbell. He isn’t worried about being 2-2 with a 17-game schedule, and he isn’t going into “panic mode,” but I’d be lying if I think Brian Branch is going to make all the difference. It’s going to take Holmes digging into his draft day bag and getting talent in the building. It’s going to take Campbell entrusting the right person to lead that defense.
If that person is indeed Kelvin Sheppard, it better happen soon. Another performance like this against the Arizona Cardinals could have the boo birds fly back north for a long Week 6 of restlessness.
