A winning football team is typically a well-oiled machine. While the Detroit Lions have won three games to start the 2026 season, there is still room to improve.
Five games into the year, it has been a mixed bag for the Lions. The offense is humming, averaging almost 33 points per game. The defense is not, allowing nearly 30 points per game. Those two numbers tell a story: the Lions are playing shootout-style football. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but we are nearing the extreme—the offense needs
to be perfect, while the defense is scrounging for impactful plays.
The Week 5 victory over the Arizona Cardinals was a much-needed turnaround, as both sides of the ball looked sharp. However, that performance needs to be a blueprint going forward, not an outlier. One way to make that happen is for Lions players to step up.
Today’s Question of the Day is:
Which Detroit Lions player needs to have a bigger impact post-bye?
My answer: Jack Campbell.
Unfortunately, there are a number of viable answers to this question.
On offense, Jameson Williams (18 catches for 276 yards and two touchdowns) and Isaac TeSlaa (nine catches for 187 yards) are two names that immediately come to mind. For Williams, it would be nice to see more consistency, whether that means catching the football or being more impactful on intermediate plays. As for TeSlaa, it would be nice to see him more involved in general. Even with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Williams ahead of him on the depth chart, fewer than 10 receptions and zero touchdowns is a surprise for a player that appeared to be ascending this time last season.
On defense, you could name anyone in the secondary. At cornerback, the Lions need more impactful play from D.J. Reed and whoever is CB2 for the week, whether it is Roger McCreary, Ennis Rakestraw, or Rock Ya-Sin. At safety, the Lions drastically need Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph back; the return of the former looks promising while the latter remains a question mark.
However, my pick is Jack Campbell.
The bar was set high after an impressive All-Pro campaign in 2025, but we have not seen that level from Campbell so far in 2026. Whereas Campbell was a football-seeking missile last season, he has been out of sorts far too often this season. The coverage has taken a serious nosedive, and he (and other Lions linebackers) have been targeted heavily. Given the struggles of the linebacking unit as a whole, I am inclined to believe that it might be a schematic issue rather than a talent issue.
Regardless, Campbell is one of the most important parts of the Lions defense, and his play has simply not met expectations. For the Lions to have a successful post-bye stretch, they will need him to return to form.
Which Lions player needs to step up in the coming weeks? Let us know in the comments below.
