Detroit Lions: It’s officially time to start tanking for the draft

With a loss on Sunday to the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions now sit at 3-5-1 and are basically out of the playoff race. It’s time to start thinking about 2020.

Sunday, November 10th will be officially known as the day that the 2019 season was over for the Detroit Lions, as a putrid offense and an inconsistent defense handed the Pride another loss at the hands of the Chicago Bears.

Lions fans couldn’t have been hopeful going into the game, as just a few hours before, reports surfaced of broken bones being found in Matthew Stafford‘s back. The starting quarterback was put on the inactive list early Sunday.

Injuries continued to plague the Lions’ offense throughout the game, as starting running back Ty Johnson and starting right tackle Rick Wagner each left the game and didn’t return.

MLive.com’s beat writer Kyle Meinke showcased the Lions’ offensive struggles perfectly in his post-game observations.

"“Just like that, Detroit’s top-five offense was neutered beyond recognition. A unit that had more 20-yard passes than any other team in the league was struggling to complete anything beyond 5. So even when they faced, say, a second-and-long, they were running a guy like Paul Perkins, who was in for Ty Johnson, who was in for Tra Carson, who was in for Kerryon Johnson, into the heart of one of the best defenses in the league.”"

Driskel executed the basic things on offense well enough, completing seven of his first eight passes. But the Lions coaching staff clearly didn’t have faith in him throwing the ball downfield, as they played a very conservative, dink-and-dunk passing attack that led to more than a few punts.

Even though Matthew Stafford was leading the league in passes thrown 20+ yards, Driskel only had two of those deep passes. While one of those passes was a touchdown pass to Kenny Golladay, the lack of a deep ball threat limited the Detroit passing attack.

Games like today truly prove how valuable Stafford is to this offense, as a previously vibrant offense with him was unable to function properly without him.

Even without their star quarterback and backup Jeff Driskel starting in his place, Lions fans had to hope for a solid defensive performance, since Mitchell Trubisky has proven to be one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the league this year.

The Lions defense made Trubisky look like a Pro Bowler, as he threw for three touchdowns and made very few mistakes on a defense that couldn’t pressure or take wide receivers off their routes.

This defense is historically bad, as it’s on pace to finish as the worst in franchise history. Those struggles started when rookie safety Will Harris got beat on a red zone route by third string Chicago tight end Ben Braunecker for a touchdown.

That touchdown opened up the floodgates, as the Lions gave up touchdown passes on the next two drives to a guy who didn’t throw any touchdowns in five of the first seven games of the season.

The loss drops the Lions to 3-5-1, as well as an 0-3 start in the NFC North, which almost an impossible hole to dig out of.

Stafford is hurt. Kerryon Johnson is on IR. Ty Johnson and Rick Wagner are hurt. Miles Killebrew and Da’Shawn Hand and Tracy Walker are all out. Those are just a few of the names that are littered on the injury report.

There are a few teams every NFL season that have hope to start the season, but get their year destroyed thanks to too many injuries to keep them as a contender.

As hard as it is for some Lions fans to shallow, Detroit is one of those teams this year. It’s time to shut Stafford down for the season, lick their wounds, improve in the draft, and focus on the future, because this season is more than finished.