The Detroit Lions are 5-2 headed into their Week 9 clash against the Minnesota Vikings, having gotten through a much-needed bye week and into a practice week that'll see the return of Malcolm Rodriguez and Terrion Arnold. Key defensive pieces are coming back into the fold as the Lions look to keep pace with the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North.
Of course, there's more than enough room for improvement for Detroit, even beyond their injury woes. Their offense has left something to be desired on a few fronts, specifically, as it pertains to their third down conversion rate. So far this season, they've been lackluster at extending plays, which is a big departure from 2024.
While their offense hasn't necessarily slipped up too much under new offensive coordinator John Morton, they've got a long way to go before they look like the dominant Lions offense of the past. And, most importantly, head coach Dan Campbell feels the same way.
"We are not getting the plays we normally get because we have not converted like we should on third down. Third down is the most glaring thing right now. We have to be better."
Campbell says quiet part out loud about Lions' offensive woes
Per Lions team reporter Tim Twentyman, the Lions haven't been efficient with third down conversions this season. He shared in a recent write-up ahead of this week's practice:
"The Lions are converting on third down just 37.6 percent of the time, which ranks 21st in the NFL. On third and manageable, which Campbell describes as third and four to six yards, Detroit ranks 20th converting 39.1 percent of the time."
READ MORE: Lions just got excellent news about Vikings ahead of Week 9
That's not going to get the job done against elite teams like the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, and Los Angeles Rams - all squads Detroit will be handling over these next few weeks. If they can clean it up in this department with less conservative play calling for Jared Goff in these situations, then they could stop simply toying around with opponents like they did in Week 7 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
That game should've been a blowout. Instead, it was too close to call headed into the fourth quarter.
Amon-Ra St. Brown's skillset in short yardage situations in addition to the boom or bust potential of Jameson Williams as a playmaker should make this stat more startling. And, it should make it far easier to clean up as we approach the halfway mark of the year.