Detroit Lions Week 16 report card: Lions fall flat on their face in Carolina

The Detroit Lions laid an egg on Christmas Eve, with a truly pitiful performance against the Carolina Panthers. Here’s our report card for the game. 

In a league of parity, expecting the Detroit Lions to win nine of 10 down the stretch was a pipe dream. However, it isn’t so much they lost on Saturday, but how they lost to the Carolina Panthers. In every facet of play, the Lions were completely dominated by a mediocre opponent.

The defense couldn’t stop anything and the offense wasn’t productive when the game was close enough for it to matter. The Lions regressed severely in every way, looking much more like their early season form that brought a 1-6 start.

For all the progress made over the past seven weeks, this loss showed how much more this team needs to grow. So as the Lions fall flat on their face heading into Christmas, let’s take a look back at what went wrong in Carolina.

Detroit Lions Week 16 report card: Humbled in Carolina

Rush offense: 1/5 stars 

Once again the Lions’ ground game struggled to gain any traction on Saturday. Early futility mixed with a very unfavorable game script led to Detroit running for just 44 yards. There isn’t much to dissect because the ground game was a complete non-factor.

To add insult to injury, or rather the other way around, Jamaal Williams went down with a leg injury in this game. He’s been an absolute workhorse for this team, and his absence would be a big one.

Pass offense: 2/5 stars

There was a weird issue with Jared Goff having several passes batted at the line in this game. It happened four times, three in the first half. Brian Burns predictably caused trouble for this offensive line as he picked up two sacks.

Aside from that though the passing game was fine. It wasn’t good when it was needed at the start of the game, but it wasn’t unwatchable. Goff was still finding his receivers in space, and the offense as a whole put up an adequate amount of points and passing yards. But a lot of the production came in garbage time, so it isn’t worth much.

Best offensive player: TE Shane Zylstra

In one of the weirdest developments of this game, Shane Zylstra caught three touchdowns. All three were down near the goal line, and Zylstra was able to give Goff an open target.

For a player who is far from a featured piece on the Lions’ offense, that has to feel good for him. It’s also nice to at least have one positive thing to talk about in this game.

Worst offensive player(s): TEs James Mitchell and Brock Wright

Part of the problem in the run game has been the poor blocking from the tight ends. Mitchell has been poor in that regard all season, but Wright is usually more steady.

Unfortunately, both had subpar games in that regard, which further contributed to the Panthers’ defense swarming the run game.

Run defense: 0/5 stars 

320 rushing yards for the Panthers. There’s not much more to say than that, and it’s truly astonishing. In the Panthers’ first drive of the day alone, they racked up more rushing yards than the Lions had allowed in the previous two games combined.

The physical brand of football that the Panthers played absolutely destroyed the Lions’ front. It was ugly from the first snap, and it never got better.

Pass defense: 0/5 stars

Carolina had little need for the passing game. When they did go to it though, it was highly effective. Sam Darnold threw the ball for 250 yards on just 15 completions. Including a few nice deep throws to his receivers as the Lions’ secondary struggled once more.

It was just one of those days where absolutely nothing was going right. Detroit had zero answers for anything the Panthers did.

Best defensive player: No one

Worst defensive player(s): Everyone 

Much like how in recent weeks the defense has been in sync to stop opposing offenses, they were in sync to have a truly awful day. The defensive tackles were being moved far too easily, the edge defenders were very undisciplined and failed to set the edge against the run, the linebackers couldn’t properly read and attack gaps, and the defensive backs had a woeful time tackling.

Nobody on the defensive side for the Lions played well, and everyone stood out in a negative way. As seen earlier in the season, defenders were trying to overcompensate which only made things worse. The Panthers played bully ball up front and it worked wonders against a Lions’ defense that clearly didn’t come ready to play.

Coaching Staff: 1/5 stars

Aaron Glenn’s defense had been making tangible strides in the last few weeks. The run defense was improving drastically, and the front was generating a lot of pressure for opposing quarterbacks to deal with. That was completely absent on Saturday. Part of it is absolutely due to the lack of execution by the players, between poor discipline and awful tackling.

However, the scheme was not helping. Glenn still insists on calling zero blitzes, which puts so much pressure on a secondary that cannot handle it. For as poor as the execution was, part of it absolutely is a result of not putting players in a position to succeed. You cannot allow nearly 600 yards of offense to a bad Panthers team without the defensive coordinator facing a lot of criticism. Quite frankly, these are the kind of performances that cost coaches their jobs.

Final thoughts:

Now sitting at 7-8, the Lions’ playoff odds have taken a drastic hit. Even if Detroit won their final two games, they are going to need some help to sneak into a wildcard spot.

Saturday served as a harsh reminder of the differences in the NFL week to week. A week ago Lions fans were sold on this team going to the playoffs. Now it’s hard to imagine optimism will be high.