With a long offseason looming for the Detroit Lions, tons of questions have began to abound regarding the things that went wrong for such a talented roster. The most obvious answers remain the offensive line and depleted secondary doing them in, which is the slightly worse version of what went wrong back in 2024.
Things can be done to improve both of these units through the draft and free agency, but for now, we've just got to wallow in what the Lions gave to fans this year: an 8-8 record heading into Week 18, with the potential of finishing under .500 for the first time since 2022. Fun.
Fans also are left to sit with questions about what head coach Dan Campbell will do with his first-year coordinators after this season. John Morton is all but guaranteed gone, considering that Campbell took play-calling duties over from him halfway through the season. As for Kelvin Sheppard, it feels like he deserves at least one more season on the job with a healthy roster before concluding his skills as a coordinator. Campbell feels the same...somewhat.
“I like Shep. Shep has really grown this year. I think with any first-time coordinator, first-time coach, you go through a lot. You learn along the way. You make adjustments. You find things that you believe in, you throw other things to the side that don’t fit you. You find ways to adjust, and it’s just part of the process," said Campbell of Sheppard on 97.1 The Ticket.
Despite this endorsement, though, Campbell was non-committal on Sheppard returning as the Lions' defensive coordinator next season.
“I’m not anywhere yet. I’ve got one game left here. “I’m not about to start going through what I’m going to do here or there. I’m not.”
Campbell gets honest about coaching evaluations headed into Week 18
Sheppard is likely safe for next year, barring a wild availability impending. A name like Brian Flores or even Todd Bowles might make Detroit and Campbell move their head, but as of now, it feels more likely that Sheppard will be entrusted to get the most out of a (hopefully) far healthier unit in 2026 and beyond.
He's shown some real flashes of being a truly good coordinator, like when he helped Detroit's beaten-down secondary take down a then-red-hot Tampa Bay Buccaneers squad in Week 7.
However, he failed to recreate that same magic with the "Legion of Whom" in later weeks against stronger opponents.
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Compared to the magic done by teams like the San Francisco 49ers, who are also experiencing some major injuries bringing down their defense on paper, Sheppard failed to get that same production out of his backups. Comparison is the thief of joy, but it's hard not to see how well those teams are faring despite their injury woes and not get a bit jealous.
Brian Branch might not be back until much later in the year in 2026, while Terrion Arnold, D.J. Reed, and hopefully Kerby Joseph seem primed to be back for Week 1 next year. That should, in theory, help Sheppard begin to really show what he's got as a defensive coordinator with such great playmakers. If he can't, then it'll be another failure on Campbell's, and Brad Holmes's, part.