The Detroit Lions need a good start against the Chicago Bears
By Robert Jones
A nugget of hope for the Lions defense
The Chicago Bears are the perfect opponent for the Detroit Lions defense to open up against. Despite Mitch Trubisky generally playing well against his rivals from the Motor City, he is not an elite quarterback and the offense is not elite either.
They have a good one-two punch at running back with David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen and receiver Allen Robinson can still make plays, but the rest of the pieces on that side of the ball are average to below average.
Also, as I mentioned earlier, the defense is usually ahead of the offense early in the season. This may be the biggest ‘must-win’ game in Matt Patricia’s tenure here. Because if the Lions lose this game, then the fans and media alike will be reaching for their torches and pitchforks.
Yes sir, it won’t be pretty.
But if you are looking for one nugget to give you hope why the defense might finally play at an acceptable level, then that would have to be defensive coordinator Cory Undlin.
Undlin who began his NFL career as a defensive assistant in 2004 with the New England Patriots became a good friend of Matt Patricia during their lone season together.
After that, Undlin had stints at Cleveland, Jacksonville, Denver, and Philadelphia. All of which played mostly aggressive defensive systems while he was with them.
If there is one thing that Cory Undlin understands it’s that without a successful pass-rush, any defense will fail. Yes, they need to be more consistent stopping the run, but these Lions were flat out embarrassingly bad at getting to opposing passers last year.
The defensive system the Lions will run will be Matt Patricia’s, but you can bet that Undlin has made sure that the blitz package has been dusted off and is ready to be used liberally.
Last week both Matt Patricia and Cory Undlin let it be clearly known that Undlin will be calling the defenses. If that is the case then he will incorporate any and all packages he has to in order to pressure opposing passers.
He may blitz the whole defense if he has to.
Must Read. Detroit Lions: Position by position breakdown of the 53-man roster. light
The point is this; Matt Patricia is actually giving Cory Undlin a free hand with the defense and it’s virtually inconceivable that Undlin won’t run it with some degree of aggressiveness like the defenses at his previous four NFL stops.
So there should be a pass-rush in Detroit this year. Even if he has to manufacture it with the blitz.
The Bears are in town, and this is the perfect opportunity for these Lions open their season with authority. Anything less than that has to be considered a failure.