Lions defense's downward trend against Rams is nothing new

What Detroit Lions fans saw in Week 15 against the Los Angeles Rams was unlike anything they'd experienced back in 2024. Sloppy defense thanks to multiple missed assignments and a lack of a pass rush after the first half of action led to 41 points for Matthew Stafford and the top-seeded NFC West team.

This performance was jarringly bad, and it just seemed like from top to bottom, the defense had given up once Los Angeles began to get into a groove in the 3rd quarter. With no help from the Lions offense, the banged-up Detroit secondary saw their motivation go out the window.

The thing is, the Lions defense has been this bad for weeks now. What they showed against the Rams in a must-win game was an inability to play a consistent four quarters of tough-nosed, and smart, defense. This sort of play has been going on for weeks, and the numbers back it up.

Lions' defense showed nothing new against Rams (and that's a bad thing)

Let's get the obvious out of the way before getting into these numbers: the Lions are very, very injured. They are without Terrion Arnold, Brian Branch, and likely Kerby Joseph for the rest of the season. D.J. Reed also missed a good chunk of the start to the season with a hamstring injury.

They're consistently trotting out a revolving door of practice squad elevations because of these injuries, which means there's been no consistency with a defensive unit, and no consistent unit for defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard to coach up.

Putting that aside for a moment, let's take a look at these jarring defensive numbers shared by NFL Draft analyst and Detroit Lions podcast host Russell Brown:

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The Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys, and Rams all have formidable passing games. It's hard to contain any of these three, especially with how thin the Lions are in their secondary. However, allowing 31 points to the New York Giants and having already had embarrassing loss to J.J. McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings is inexcusable.

Their DVOA is certainly misleading in this regard. They're still third overall in the metric, with their defense still ranking amongst the best in the league. But, this is not the kind of defense that can make any noise in the postseason. The inconsistency and inability to get multiple stops in a row spells trouble for Detroit against a stacked NFC and offenses like that of the Rams or Packers.

Head coach Dan Campbell swore that the Lions' defense is "better than" what they showed against Los Angeles after the huge loss. It's fair to expect him to defend his team in this way. But, the numbers don't lie. And, there's plenty to be concerned about regarding their teams' makeup on defense headed into next season.