Detroit Lions Week 17 Report Card: Battered Lions get bludgeoned by Seahawks

Coaching Staff-2/5 Stars

Dan Campbell gets some credit for calling some good plays for Boyle and offense. However, some personnel decision are worthy of criticism.

D’Andre Swift made his return to the lineup this week, and he only had four carries and two receptions. Jamaal Williams saw 11 carries and three receptions, and Craig Reynolds saw four carries with a single catch.

Swift is easily this team’s best and most electric offensive player, only giving him six touches in favor of less-talented options is highly questionable. Yes Swift was returning from a lengthy absence, but you seriously couldn’t give him more than six touches?

Beyond upsetting countless fantasy football managers, you only hurt your offense by not giving your best player the ball.

The defensive coaching staff also deserves some flak for how poorly their unit played in this game. For as great as Aaron Glenn has been all season, this was far from his best work. Detroit struggled to generate pressure and failed to stop the run all game long.

Final Thoughts

There’s no way to sugarcoat this, it was a truly terrible game for the Lions. Stretches of good play but not nearly good enough to dig themselves out of a big hole.

The only good news to come from this game is regarding the Lions’ draft position.

With the loss, Detroit is now locked into a top-two selection in the 2022 draft. To reclaim the No. 1 overall pick, the Jacksonville Jaguars would have to beat the Indianapolis Colts next week. Given how unlikely that appears to be, the Lions seem destined to pick second overall.

Detroit closes out the season at home against the Packers. Green Bay will likely rest their starters after clinching  the top seed in the NFC, and the Lions have nothing to lose. So it could be a competitive game.

Aside from that, there’s not a lot of good to talk about right now. This was just a bad week for Lions football.

Final grade: 2/5 Stars