The Detroit Lions' defense could have used their Sunday Night Football matchup against Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers as an opportunity to flip the script following weeks of concerning performances. All they did was play so poorly that former Lions CB Darius Slay had to make his feelings known.
Slay called the Lions' defense "bad bad" on social media, and they proceeded to prove the former Pro Bowler completely correct in his evaluation by letting Bryce Young appear one step shy of Dan Marino in an embarrassing showing on Sunday Night. The song remains the same during the Dan Campbell era, as the Lions allowed 445 yards of offense in the loss.
The Lions once again have a solid roster and an offense capable of outscoring just about anyone in the league, but without a defense that can even put in the effort to look like a league-average unit, there will be a few more games like the 32-26 scoreline the Lions found themselves on the wrong end of.
Former Detroit Lions CB Darius Slay rips defense after poor showing in SNF loss to Panthers
The Lions, to be fair, are suffering from a lack of talent that even the sharpest defensive mind would struggle to overcome. The secondary was already thin, and injuries have reduced it to a shell of what it could be. Once again, Aidan Hutchinson and Alim McNeil need to do everything on the defensive line.
However, there have been some pain points Sheppard seems unwilling to address. The simple act of putting Tetairoa McMillan in the slot had Detroit completely befuddled, All-Pro linebacker Jack Campbell has been a hot mess, and first-round pick Tyleik Williams is not improving.
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When combined with the secondary struggles, even the most average offenses in the league are slicing and dicing this unit. Even though the Lions beat the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets in Weeks 1 and 3, Tyler Shough threw for 400 yards and Geno Smith went 31/37 with three touchdown passes.
The Detroit Lions may not be able to quickly fix this defense
What can be done in the immediate future? Not much, sadly. Barring a drastic decision like removing Sheppard of his duties (which Glenn has been willing to do with underperforming coordinators in the past), the Lions were simply constructed poorly from the start, and Brad Holmes needs to lie in the bed he made.
The Lions have a productive offense, as the triplet combo of Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Amon-Ra St. Brown gives Detroit a very high floor. However, as shown in the Carolina game, whenever this group is not on fire, the Lions seemingly have no shot of competing with the best in the NFC.
Unless Slay comes out of retirement and turns back the clock to his Jim Caldwell days, Lions fans need to prepare for a year of exciting games in which the offense needs to put up some laser shows to take the blame away from what has quickly become a very lackluster defense.
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