Lions Week 12 Report Card: Poor coaching dooms Detroit on Thanksgiving

Defense-3/5 Stars

The Lions defense has allowed an average of 15 points per game over the last three games. It’s unclear how much of that is opposing offenses misfiring versus the  defense improving, but it’s still a good sign.

The bend-but-don’t-break style of defense is paying off, as touchdowns are being reverted to field goals. That has allowed Detroit to stay in games for as long as they do.

Everyone has seemingly bought into this system, which is imperative given the youth on this team. It will be interesting to see how they perform against more competent offenses.

Best defensive player: CB Amani Oruwariye 

The Detroit Lions have eight interceptions this season, five have come from Oruwariye.

He nearly had a second one in this game, but he, unfortunately, couldn’t come down with the catch in a bit of a midair tussle with Bears tight end Jessie James.

Nonetheless, Oruwariye had another good game, as he has done for most of the season. He’s had some down games, but generally Oruwariye has been pretty good.

Whether or not he is a starter and long-term foundational piece, he certainly has a place right now.

Worst defensive player: S Will Harris 

I’ll touch on this more in the coaching staff section, but Harris is here simply for the last meaningful play of the game. The Bears had the ball in the red zone on a third-and-four, and Harris was playing so far off in coverage he ceded the first down that allowed the Bears to run the clock down and win.

Whether this was Harris’ fault or the coaching staff’s is to be determined. But since no one else stood out in a negative way defensively, this  section belongs to Harris this week.

Special Teams- 4/5 Stars

Let’s start with the good, Jack Fox is still an unbelievable field position optimization specialist.

The punt coverage was also good for the most part, and Detroit got some good returns out of Godwin Igwebuike.

However, on the flip side, Khadarel Hodge also had one of the most Lions-esque plays of the season.

There are going to be plenty of memes made from this clip.