Pride of Detroit
The current Detroit Lions regime has a history of slow starts — but Week 1’s meltdown in Green Bay was uncharacteristically treacherous. The good news for Detroit is that it also has a history of roaring back. The Lions have won 10 straight games following a loss dating back to October 2022.
That’s why Lions fans have been pointing to a handful of “no-show” games (2022 Panthers, 2023 Ravens, 2023 Packers, 2023 Bears) when comparing last week’s defeat at Lambeau. Few teams are lucky enough to have so few of those over two and a half seasons. This is still a resilient bunch built on competition, physicality, and winning football. The staff has earned the benefit of the doubt to clean up shortcomings and look more like the team fans have come to expect.
Dan Campbell sounded exactly like that leader on Tuesday:
“What fuels my tank is losing. That fuels me because I don’t like losing, our players don’t like it, and you go back to work, man. And you get back to the basics of what you do, man, and you hit it head-on. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, we’re all accountable. And if we want to win, we have to do the little things right and prepare that way. And then we have to play that way, so that’s what gets me going.”
Campbell will have them ready for a divisional rival led by former Lions offensive coordinator turned Bears head coach, Ben Johnson, returning to Detroit and looking for its first road win. Let’s dive into two key matchups.
Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics are sourced from NFL Pro, TruMedia, FTN Fantasy, or Pro Football Reference.
The biggest takeaway from Chicago’s Monday night win over Minnesota wasn’t Ben Johnson’s play design — that will take time — but it was Caleb Williams’ natural gifts in off-script improvisation. His secondary reaction plays were where the Bears’ offense lived. That’s a problem area for Detroit’s front seven, which struggled to finish pressures late last season and again in Week 1.
Williams set career highs with six scrambles, 58 rushing yards, and a rushing touchdown. He hit the two fastest top speeds of any quarterback in Week 1 (20.45 mph and 20.29 mph — both top-11 among all ball carriers). He was also essentially Chicago’s run game; the Bears finished dead last with a 19.0% rushing success rate.
When plays extended beyond three seconds to throw, Williams ranked:
• 6th in offensive success rate (55.6%)
• 11th in EPA/dropback (0.36)
• T-5th in first downs (5 on 14 attempts)
But on in-rhythm throws under three seconds, he plunged to 28th (36.4% success rate). His best quarterbacking came outside the structure of the play call.
Detroit must not only pressure him but actually finish. Despite blitzing at the league’s third-highest rate (34.8% of dropbacks), the Lions pressured Jordan Love on just 26.1% of his dropbacks (27th), totaling six pressures, no sacks, and only...
