The Detroit Lions are staring at the ugly truth: this defense is broken in more than one place, and changing the coordinator alone won’t patch it up.
Sunday night in Carolina made that impossible to ignore. The Panthers rolled to a 32-26 win on Sunday Night Football while Bryce Young diced up Detroit for 329 yards and two touchdowns, Chuba Hubbard piled up 122 rushing yards and two scores, and Tetaroia McMillan went off with 14 catches for 192 yards and both of Young’s touchdown receptions.
“I know there's frustration,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “Look, I'm frustrated.
I know the players are frustrated. But it's also, you're a few plays away, a few penalties away.”
The numbers around Detroit’s defense are brutal. No team has given up more yards or points.
The Lions have allowed the most passing yards in the league and the 11th-most rushing yards. Their 43.67 defensive EPA is the worst in the NFL, and they sit fifth-worst in defensive success rate, per Sumer Sports.
According to The Athletic, no defense has been worse at preventing explosive passes or explosive runs. They’ve also allowed touchdowns on 40.5 percent of possessions, the league’s worst mark.
That lines up with the tape. The Lions are getting hit by coverage busts, missed assignments and blitzes that arrive too late to matter. Their corners have been exposed in coverage, their linebackers have been out of place against the run and vulnerable in space, and Carolina took advantage of it by leaning on RPOs all night.
The strange part is that Detroit’s pass rush has done its job on paper. The Lions are second in the NFL in sacks and rank near the top of the league in fastest time-to-pressure, but the back end has made that edge meaningless. If the coverage falls apart that fast, pressure doesn’t save you.
Detroit tried everything Sunday night. The Lions blitzed.
They rushed four. They played zone.
They played man. Nothing stuck.
That’s why the heat is now building around defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard. The easy reaction is always to look at the coach, find the one name to blame and assume a firing will reset everything. Campbell said in his postgame news conference in Carolina that the Lions are not thinking about firing Sheppard, but the noise around him is only getting louder.
Still, this looks bigger than one coach.
DJ Reed said it plainly: “It's not a coaching thing, it's a players thing. This game comes down to winning one-on-ones, and that's what we've got to do as a whole collective unit in the secondary.
We haven't been doing that,” cornerback DJ Reed said. “So, we've just got to be better.”
Detroit has cut its man coverage rate in half this season, dropping from an average of 32.1 percent from 2021-25 to 15.6 percent this year. But zone hasn’t been the answer, and man coverage has looked even worse.
The personnel issues are staring everyone in the face. Reed has been getting beat by opposing No. 1 receivers.
Rock Ya-Sin has been benched. Ennis Rakestraw Jr. is still finding his way in the league.
Roger McCreary is being targeted. Jack Campbell has gone from an All-Pro to one of the league’s worst coverage linebackers this season.
Malcolm Rodriguez and Derrick Barnes were lost in Charlotte. Chuck Clark and Christian Izien are a step slow too often.
That’s the heart of it. The Lions do not have enough dependable bodies on the back end right now.
Brian Branch should help when he returns, but a safety coming off a torn Achilles is not a cure-all. And firing Sheppard probably isn’t one either.
The deeper problem is the roster, and unless general manager Brad Holmes gets active soon, this season could keep sliding fast.
In Other News...
Darius Slay Just Said What Lions Fans Fear About This Secondary
Darius Slay has never been shy about giving his old team an honest evaluation, and his latest comments land at a time when the Lions are still trying to steady a defense that has drawn plenty of scrutiny. The former Detroit cornerback pointed to Carlton Davis as the player he thought fit best in the scheme and said letting him leave in free agency was the clubs biggest recent misstep, a remark that will sound familiar to anyone who has watched the secondary struggle to find consistency.
Slay also took aim at the broader direction of the defense under Kelvin Sheppard, suggesting the issues in the back end go beyond one departure and reflect a need for a different philosophy. He did leave open a sliver of intrigue about his own future, saying he might entertain a return for the right offer, though he made clear he is comfortable with life after football for now. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Pass Defense Problem Could Force A Trade Fans Didn't Expect
Through the first month of the season, the Lions pass defense has been one of the clearest pressure points on the roster, and it has already pushed the front office into the trade market. Detroit has talked with other teams about cornerback Joey Porter Jr., but the search for help could widen if the right deal materializes. One name floating into the conversation is Philadelphia cornerback Riq Woolen, a player with the kind of tools that can change the feel of a secondary in a hurry.
Woolens contract situation and past performance make him an intriguing fit for a team trying to shore up the back end without overcommitting long term. Philadelphias recent roster changes, including the retirement of Lane Johnson and the trade of Cam Jurgens, have also fueled the idea that the Eagles could be willing to keep moving pieces to stockpile future draft capital. For the Lions, the question is whether a move like that is realistic, and whether solving the pass-defense issue will require a swing more aggressive than the one fans expected. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Secondary Problem Is Fueling A Trade Fans Will Want
The Lions search for help in the back end keeps circling back to the trade market, and Kristian Fulton has become one of the more interesting names attached to it. Detroit has already come up short on other cornerback targets, including Joey Porter Jr., which has only sharpened the focus on a defense that could use more stability on the outside. Fultons situation in Kansas City makes him a logical candidate to watch, especially with the kind of midseason deal that can sometimes benefit both teams.
Jeremy Fowler reported that Fulton is not currently a full-time starter for the Chiefs, and that matters for a Detroit team looking for a player who can step in without forcing a massive overhaul. A trade could come together if the teams are willing to split his salary, which gives the Lions a possible path forward if they decide to keep pressing for help. For a secondary still trying to find the right fit, this is the sort of move that can gain momentum quickly if the price is right. [Read more 🡒]