A loss on national television can be a humbling experience for an NFL team, though that does not make the experience feel any better.
The Detroit Lions fell flat against the Kansas City Chiefs on “Sunday Night Football” to the tune of a 30-17 loss. Despite Detroit entering this game with an edge in the standings, Kansas City entered as the Vegas favorite, and they did not disappoint the bookmakers. The Lions have to stomach their second loss of the season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on deck, a task that could prove difficult before their bye week.
Is there reason to be concerned about the Lions after losing in disappointing fashion against the Chiefs?
Today’s Question of the Day is:
My answer: No.
It was, without question, a poor game for the Lions, yet it also could have been much worse. Dan Campbell said at halftime that they were “three plays away from turning this thing on its head” and he was fully correct: the Lions were a few bad plays away from making this a close affair. If the Lions get lined up properly on the Jared Goff touchdown reception, that is a four-point swing in Detroit’s favor. If Rock-Ya Sin does not get tagged with a weak pass interference penalty, that would be a four-point swing in Detroit’s favor. If Amon-Ra St. Brown catches a fourth-down pass, the Lions likely walk away with points on that drive. If Hutchinson lets up to avoid a roughing the passer penalty, that would have forced Kansas City into a third-and-long on what ended up being a touchdown drive—likely a swing in Detroit’s favor. In a 30-17 loss, those points mattered.
For all the concern surrounding the Lions’ secondary entering this game, I actually thought the exceeded expectations. While that might say more about my low expectations, I think it also highlights that the Chiefs chose a different avenue to attack on Sunday night: the linebackers.
Of the 257 passing yards from Mahomes on the day, 165 of them came while targeting linebackers in coverage. The linebackers had been a strength for the Lions prior to this week, so it was a significant anomaly to see them gutted like this. Even when they were close enough to make a tackle, they were whiffing far too often.
The initial reaction to this game will be negative, but many parts of the Lions were still successful. I think Goff was solid despite his low yardage. I think the pass rush was solid, recording multiple pressures and sacks. I think the blocking was solid, especially with Dan Skipper in relief. I think the receivers were solid aside from the St. Brown drop—it was nice to see Jameson Williams get involved without deep shots.
If you had to boil down this loss into a few bullet points, I would bring up two reasons why the Lions lost: the linebackers had a bad outing and the offense had to abandon the run. Given what we have seen from the Lions through six weeks, how often are these going to be issues? I would wager not often, or at least not often enough to make me worried about their playoff chances.
If the Lions get a few plays to go their way and the linebackers perform to their usual standard, there’s a good chance the Lions are not trailing two scores for a majority of this game. That means more Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, which plays into the bread and butter of the Lions’ offense: run the ball to open up the passing attack and control the clock.
Detroit was not at their best on Sunday night, but that does not mean their peak form is unattainable going forward.
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