The Detroit Lions came into the 2026 season with major questions in their defensive secondary, and a hard-fought 31-30 win over the New Orleans Saints did little to dispel some of the biggest perceived issues.
Early on, the Lions held their own, grinding to a 7-0 lead at halftime. In the second-half, their lead swelled to 21-0 after a pair of quick takeaways, and many figured the victory was in the bag. The Saints started completing passes, though, and suddenly, all of Detroit's biggest problems were magnified.
Quite literally, the Lions didn't stop New Orleans from the midway point of the third quarter until the final play of overtime. Tyler Shough, who struggled at times, found a groove, and went on to finish with 410 yards passing and three touchdowns. Just about the only mistakes he made came early in the game and on its final play.
Without the duo of Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph along with a cornerback group that could be seen as less than deep, the Lions are already showing major warts on defense. While their front battled to hold the Saints to just 91 yards on the ground while collecting five sacks, things came far too easy through the air, even in spite of two interceptions.
After this performance, the Lions have big decisions to make. Do they need a shakeup in the cornerback room in the form of practice squad spark plug Nick Whiteside? Would considering a major trade for Joey Porter Jr. or a similar talent make sense? Either way, it will be a tough task for the Lions to play this loose on the back end and have the kind of season they are hoping for.
Another major test is lined up for next Thursday night against the Buffalo Bills, and their high-flying offense will no doubt be licking their chops after watching this ugly tape from Detroit's defense.
Dan Campbell believes beleaguered Lions secondary will improve
While a dramatic outside move isn't likely to happen at this point, the key will be for the Lions to tap into what they were able to do to in the first-half. They were better on the ball and stuck to the New Orleans receivers far tighter than in the second-half. Maybe there's something on tape that can explain the dramatic shift which took place.
Campbell understands that the main path to improvement comes from finding a better balance between the pass rush and the backfield. To that end, he sees the ability for the defense to improve as high, which leaves him not feeling as worried as some of the fans.
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"I'm not concerned. I don't know if concerned is the right word. I know there are some things we need to tighten up on mentally. We know the responsibility. We just got to get there a little bit quicker and a little cleaner and know where our help is at. We also know by what we were doing, we were going to get strung out a little bit. That can happen at times. Your guys have to get there up front. Somebody's going to get a one-on-one. They have to win. If they don't, our back end can get strung out a little bit. I'm not concerned. I just know we can tighten some of it up and we're going to get better on defense."
Perhaps the Lions assumed they had the game in the bag after they went up three touchdowns and let their foot off the gas on defense. Perhaps they really are that bad against the pass. The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle.
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