The Lions’ first five games have not gone how most fans expected or wanted them to go in this 2022 season. Coming into this year many fans had actual expectations for the Lions, these expectations were not lofty by any means. Most fans just wanted the Lions to compete and fight for a wild card spot or the closest thing to it. The Lions sure have competed but due to a mix of a lack of talent, injuries, bad play calls, and costly mistakes they sit at 1-4 and the bottom of the NFC north. While the playoffs are not exactly in sight, there are a few things the Lions can do to just compete for the rest of the season.
Injuries, the biggest thing for the Lions going into the bye week is getting healthy. The bye week gives time for Amon-Ra St.Brown to get healthy, you expect Swift to be back, and you hope the plethora of injuries that occurred in the secondary Sunday are all not serious so you can get those guys back. The possibility of Jameson Williams, the electric rookie receiver making his debut shortly after the bye week is very high so it’s gonna be key to get healthy and come into week seven with a healthy roster of guys who are ready to play and compete at a high level.
The mistakes have been a problem for the Lions this season. Jared Goff has thrown two key pick-sixes in games where they clearly could have won, Goff had a crucial fumble in the past week that caused the Lions to go scoreless on a promising drive. You just can’t have plays like this going forward. It seems like every week, Goff will be playing great then he will just have a moment that makes you remember that he is Jared Goff. If the Lions want to win anything this season they need to limit mistakes as much as possible, if they keep handing the defense points then this team will get nowhere, three defensive touchdowns in five weeks against the Lions is unacceptable for a team that wants to get out of that bottom dweller status they have held for so many years.
The decision-making has to get better, this coaching staff is capable of doing more and I know it. I am all for taking risks and going for it on fourth down but going for it on fourth and nine in field goal range, when you are down six, has to be one of the most bonehead decisions I have seen in my time as a fan of the Lions, and to make matters worse Goff fumbles on the play and that one score leads the Patriots had turned into a two-score lead and all momentum goes to the Patriots. Campbell needs to be better, he can’t just keep making all of these awful decisions like sending your kicker who already missed a kick that day to go kick a 52-yarder when you were up in the game. It is just unacceptable and has been a pain to watch, we fans can only hope things get better and Campbell turns the ship around before it is too late.
The defense has been abysmal so far this season, allowing 35 points per game going into week five is just horrid. It just hasn’t been there, highly touted rookie Aidan Hutchinson has been seemingly invisible along with the rest of the defensive line. The only real bright spot in the linebacking core has been Malcolm Rodriguez, outside of him that group is one of the worst in the league. Jeff Okudah has played phenomenally, but other than him, it has been rough to watch. The Lions were down five players in the secondary against the Patriots and even with five players out they held their own. The score would tell you a different story but the Lions’ defense played fine on Sunday, they allowed 22 points and held the Patriots to five field goals. This defense is bad, hopefully, Aaron Glenn can work some magic and turn nothing into something for the rest of the season and get guys to step up where needed and turn this defense into anything but bottom five.
