Surprise! Defense hasn’t carried the Detroit Lions as expected

The Detroit Lions defense was expected to be the strength of the team this season, but so far it has been the offense which has done most of the carrying.

The Detroit Lions have had a good start to the season. Maybe not a great start, but a good start. Considering things have not quite worked out as expected we shouldn’t be complaining.

All summer long the Honolulu Blue and Silver faithful have been expecting to see the Lions defense take the next step into the elite category, but it hasn’t been that simple.

Between injuries and the defensive line not performing up to expectations, it has been a slow start on defense. After the fourth-quarter collapse in Arizona, to their credit, they have bent but not completely broken. Even the 27 points the defense surrendered to the Chiefs wasn’t a horrible display because they did make Kansas City work for it.

The results have been mostly good enough so far, but to be honest, if this Lions defense had made just a few more plays against the Cardinals and Chiefs, this club would be undefeated today.

That’s not to lay all the blame of those two blemishes on their record at the feet of the defense. This is a team game and there is always blame to go around.

Early in the season, the special teams weren’t even close to special. They were more like putrid, but they have been getting better which is all Matt Patricia and his staff can ask for.

But on paper, the defense looked like it could be good. Very good. Like possibly top 10 good. The defensive line looked like it would be deep and unstoppable, while the linebackers were a deeper unit and there was more overall talent in the secondary.

All things considered, we all probably had visions of this defense mauling some opponents this year. But so far they haven’t. Not yet at least.