What is the answer?
Like some of Matt Patricia’s predecessors, it is ironic that this team is starting to have success on the opposite side of the ball. Darrell Bevell’s offense is still having trouble dialing up a consistent ground game, but the passing game has been diverse and generally pretty good. It has more or less carried the team so far this season.
Consider this; the Lions best defense since the turn of the century was the 2014 season when they finished second overall in total defense and were coached by offensive head coach, Jim Caldwell, whose offense was pretty average.
So bucking the trend of so many of his predecessor’s inability to maximize the productivity of their own side of the ball, seems to be a bigger task than we suspected.
Sure Damon ‘Snacks’ Harrison isn’t having a good season so far. Quandre Diggs was also having a bit of a down year before his departure this week while Jarrad Davis missed some time early and Darius Slay has also been sidelined too.
But even with the problems this unit has had this year, they played pretty well against the Chiefs in a losing effort and it took quite a bit of help from the officials for the Packers to squeak out a win against these Lions a week and a half ago on Monday Night Football.
So doesn’t it seem reasonable to think that there is some sort of answer out there? They haven’t been consistently good, but they have shown the ability to be much better than they are.
We all felt like the defense was exposed against the Vikings last Sunday, but Minnesota came into the game hot and the Lions defense has been inconsistent and suspect. While we all hoped for a better outcome, what happened wasn’t overly surprising given the circumstances.
However, the Lions are now entering a stretch where their next six games are against teams with 500 records or below. Admittedly the Bears are better than a 500 team, but in general, this is a good opportunity to find an answer to their defensive woes and gain some confidence against mostly subpar competition starting this Sunday with the New York Giants.
The question is; can Matt Patricia find an answer to their defensive issues and get them trending back in the right direction?
General manager Bob Quinn trusted his long-time friend from New England to make the Lions a tough, physical team that could run the ball and play defense. Right now they are struggling in both categories. Martha Firestone Ford has proven she won’t have unlimited patience like her late husband, so the time is now for Matt Patricia to find some answers.
Defense wins championships and right now the Lions defense seems to have a lot of questions to answer before they will be ready to win anything.