Lions Sloppy Play Could Derail Playoff Hopes

Lions can not afford to keep turning football over at high clip.

Facts are facts: The Detroit Lions have played some bad football the past two weeks. 

This past Sunday against the Bears, the Lions overcame four turnovers, to escape Ford Field with a victory. They trailed Justin Fields & Co. by 12 points, 26-14, with under 4:00 to go, and mounted a rather miraculous comeback.

They weren't so lucky on Thanksgiving, though. This time around, Detroit wasn't able to shake its turnover woes.

It committed two first-half turnovers Thursday against the Packers – both a result of Jared Goff fumbles and on back-to-back drives – and subsequently trailed by 17 points, 23-6, going into halftime.

Detroit did score on the opening drive of the second half, but failed to muster up anything else offensively until its final possession of the game. And, one of the main reasons for that was the porous play of Goff. 

For a second consecutive week, the veteran signal-caller played recklessly. Along with his first-half troubles, he fumbled a third time early in the fourth quarter. It came on a strip-sack from the Packers’ Rashan Gary, on a fourth-and-7 play, with Detroit down two scores, 29-14. That basically wrapped up the upset win for Green Bay.  

In his last two games now, Goff has turned the football over six times – three interceptions in Week 11 against Chicago and three fumbles on Thursday against Green Bay. In total, Detroit has been responsible for coughing up the football seven times in its last two contests (Craig Reynolds lost the football on a kickoff return against the Bears).

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The Lions have played far from a winning brand of football the past two weeks, and it finally cost them vs. Jordan Love and the Packers.

There's no way that Goff & Co. can continue playing this way and make a deep run in the playoffs (with or without home-field advantage). And, as Detroit found out the hard way Thursday, it also isn't going to win many games against any NFL team when it turns the ball over three times.

On top of the sloppy play, the Lions’ defense also looked subpar for much of the team's holiday affair with Green Bay. It generated very little pressure against Love – didn't record a single sack – and allowed the fourth-year passer to complete 22-of-32 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns. It was way too easy of a day for Love under center, who earned a sterling 125.5 passer rating, including a 90.6 QBR, for his efforts.

Over the last three weeks now, Detroit has produced just two total sacks (each against Fields in Week 11), and has allowed north of 330 yards in each contest. 

Along with struggling to get home against the opposition, Aaron Glenn's unit has allowed some big days to receivers. 

In Week 10 against the Chargers, Keenan Allen torched the Lions for 175 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, a week ago against Chicago, wideout D.J. Moore amassed 96 yards and a score. And, on Thursday vs. Green Bay, second-year receiver Christian Watson produced 94 yards and a touchdown.

To me, Detroit's struggles with stopping teams the past three weeks are indicative of the fact that the organization still doesn't have enough defensive playmakers.

Outside of Aidan Hutchinson and Alim McNeill, the Lions have had a very subpar pass-rush all season long. And, I don't think veteran Bruce Irvin, once he's called up to the active roster, is going to be the solution coming off the edge. 

Additionally, Detroit's secondary, although improved from last year, has still experienced far too many lapses. And, the team's defensive backfield is also still lacking a shutdown corner. Cam Sutton, who was advertised to be that type of corner when acquired this past offseason, has failed to live up to the billing up to this point. 

Despite the Lions’ struggles on both sides of the ball Thursday (and the past few weeks), Dan Campbell, the team's third-year head man, isn't pressing the “panic” button.

“The easy thing is to get in panic mode, and I know what it looks like. And, we’ve not been good enough out there, but I’m not panicked," Campbell told reporters after the Week 12 loss. "We got the right guys who know how to play. We’re going to clean some things up, and we’ll have six (games) to go when we get back. And, the fight is on now. ...We’re going to have to fight and scratch and fight and claw for everything, man. We have to.”

To his credit, Brad Holmes has built a competitive team in Detroit that barring a late-season collapse, will make the playoffs (and even win the NFC North division) in 2023. 

That is tremendous progress for a Detroit franchise that hasn't made the playoffs since 2016 and has posted just two winning seasons since then (not counting this year). 

But, at the end of the day, there's still no denying the fact that the Lions haven't played a true, winning brand of football the last few weeks. 

They need to clean up things on both sides of the ball, and do so quickly. Because they're simply not deep enough or good enough to consistently overcome their recent sloppy play and win games.