Lions vs 49ers Report Card: Detroit’s comeback falls short in Week 1
By Zach Payne
Coaching Staff- 3.5/5 Stars
It’s still very difficult to judge this coaching staff, it’s hard to tell how much of the team’s performance was play calling vs. The player’s execution of those plays. From an outside perspective, it seemed to be more of a lack of execution. However, you can’t excuse the coaches forever and just blame the players every week, so that is something to monitor going forward.
That’s a question that will be answered in time so for now we can only grade how well the coaching staff got this team to fight. And good grief did Detroit ever show some heart in this game. Backs against the wall and they refused to give up, they just kept grinding away and it nearly paid off.
While Dan Campbell didn’t walk out of week 1 with his first win, there certainly were some things that he can build off of going forward.
Why I was so impressed with Dan Campbell after his Detroit Lions coaching debut https://t.co/3MEZ4fud9m via @freep @freepsports
— Jeff Seidel (@seideljeff) September 14, 2021
Final Thoughts:
This is a rebuilding year for the Detroit Lions, everyone knows that. However, it would have (and did through three quarters) made everyone miserable to watch the team get blown out in week one to set the tone for the season. Instead, they send a message that no matter what they will keep fighting, and that is a positive sign.
While the team looked pretty atrocious heading into the final quarter, they did what they could to try and salvage the day. Now we see how they follow this effort up in a primetime matchup in Green Bay next week.
