If there’s anything that Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams made clear, it’s that the Detroit Lions are probably not included in the top tier of NFL teams right now. In fact, when you look at their
overall schedule right now, the only wins over a team currently in a playoff spot are their decisive win over the 7-7 Buccaneers and a blowout of the early-season Chicago Bears. As for other playoff teams they’ve faced, they lost to the Packers (twice), Eagles, and Rams.
To be fair, they were plenty competitive with each team, aside from their Week 1 loss to the Packers. They aren’t far off from that tier of contenders, but they’re just not there yet. Which means there are some unavoidable issues with this team that need to either be solved in the next three weeks or in 2026.
So today’s Question of the Day is:
What is the Lions’ biggest issue and how would you solve it?
My answer: Offensive line issues are near the top of the list. Detroit’s run game is very, very inconsistent this year, and pass protection—particularly up the middle—has caused Jared Goff to be uncomfortable in some critical games. But Detroit has still managed to produce the highest-scoring offense in football, so it’s hard to call this Detroit’s biggest problem.
Instead, I think it remains the Lions’ defense, particularly their ability to slow down a passing attack. While Detroit has admittedly faced three of the top passing offenses in football in the past three weeks (Packers, Cowboys, Rams), they’ve also struggled to contain some lesser quarterbacks, like Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, and J.J. McCarthy. For the season, they now rank 19th in passer rating allowed and 26th in yards per attempt.
The problem is twofold: Detroit’s pressure is getting to the quarterback far too slow (2.87 seconds to pressure, 29th), and their defensive backs—while often in good position—aren’t making enough plays on the ball.
On Monday, I asked Lions coach Dan Campbell is there’s anything they can do to take some of the pressure off the team’s outside cornerbacks—who play a high-percentage of man coverage, something that has proved difficult against the rising talent of receivers in this league. He gave a reasonable answer, while admitting it’s something they tried late against the Rams.
“Yeah, there are some things we can do to help and we tried to get to some of that later in the game. And yeah, there’s some things we can do. And there’s some give and take with that,” Campbell said. “Wherever you try to reduce stress, now you’re putting it on somewhere else. And we tried to get to where some of it was stopping the run in a lighter box to try to help a little bit. So, absolutely. There are some things we can help with. We were just talking about it upstairs. (Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard) Shep made a couple of comments as we were watching it. And that’s really what you’re trying to do is how can you relieve a little bit of stress off one area, put it on another group and just spread the load.”
In the past, we’ve seen the Lions prioritize run defense over coverage, and against the Cowboys they saw some success flipping the priority to making Dak Prescott uncomfortable. Despite that, Prescott still put up nearly 400 passing yards.
I think the best path to improving their pass defense is more simple than changing scheme or philosophy. They need to prioritize finding a player to who can get pressure quickly. If they aren’t a perfect run defender and if they sometimes overrun the quarterback or lack discipline with their rushing lane, that’s okay, because it’s going to be worth it for the disruption (see: sacks, fumbles, interceptions) their pressure brings.
Do I think the Lions are willing to make that concession? I doubt it, but I think it would benefit the team in the long term.
What do you think the Lions’ biggest problem is, and how would you solve it? Share your answers in the comment section below.
