How Were The Lions Able To Go From 1-6 To One Of The Teams To Beat In The NFC?

Early in the season, the Lions were looked at as the worst team in the league, and their rebuild was moving backward. Now the biggest question around the league is how did they get so good in a short amount of time with no roster changes? Today I’ll be breaking down all the aspects it took for this team to play as expected.

How Did The Defense Turn around So Quickly?

It seems the second the Detroit Lions fired defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasent, the defense turned around greatly, but that’s not all that factored into the turnaround. The Lions’ biggest problem on defense, prior to them playing well, was that outside of Jeff Okudah there was no help in the secondary until Jerry Jacobs got healthy. Once he came back the entire secondary improved, Kerby Joeseph has finally found his footing, and Deshon Elliot is fully healthy. While Aubrey Pleasent being fired probably helped this secondary greatly as well, getting players back from injury was the real key to it.

The other thing that really turned their defense around is the defensive line finally finding its footing and players getting back from injury. The run defense in the first half of the season was horrendous, but recently they have allowed very few yards to runners. This is largely due to John Cominsky and Josh Paschal back, who are plus-run defenders and make it so Alim Mcneil doesn’t have to do everything in run defense. As for the pass rush, Hutchinson has gotten used to the speed of the NFL and has been unstoppable ever since. Along with that, the emergence of James Houston has been incredible, he is amazingly dominant alongside Hutchison and they look to be the pass rush of the future.

What Has The Lions Offense Done To Lead This Turnaround?

The biggest way this offense has held its own is due to Jared Goff playing like an elite quarterback and allowing the offense to not be so predictable. The rushing attack has stayed spectacular, with Swift finally coming back into his own after coming back from the injury and Jamaal Williams playing like a starting runningback should, leading the league in rushing touchdowns. They have been so good largely due to the Lions’ offensive line playing like one of if not the best lines in the entire league. The Lions have four of five offensive linemen ranked as top ten at their position, with Penei Sewell being near the top of them all by PFF.

Jared Goff’s level of play though has allowed the Lions to not play predictable since teams would eventually catch onto the constant run, and they can pass the ball more. Amon-Ra St. Brown has been playing like a top-ten wide receiver this whole season and has created so many opportunities for the Lions’ offense, he is near unguardable and even when you can he’ll still end up with a few catches. Now DJ Chark and Jameson Williams are fully healthy and they have both shown flashes of being great pieces in the receiving core. The final thing that has made the offense run smoothly is Brock Wright and James Mitchell filling in for Hockenson just as well as Hockenson did.

How Has Coaching Affected The Change?

Out of all aspects of the team, coaching this team is the biggest change that made this team’s season turn around. Aaron Glenn got the scheme together and has shown why he got head coaching interviews last year. Dan Campbell has stopped with the bad play calls and has completely fixed his game plans, putting him second in coach of the year odds at the moment. Finally, Ben Johnson has made this offense almost unstoppable with his play calls and schemes, the Lions will be extremely lucky if he doesn’t get a head coaching job.