Sunday was a rare chance to focus on the rest of the NFL. With the Lions already done for the weekend after playing on Thursday, Detroit fans were free to watch what was happening around the rest of the league.
What Lions fans witnessed can only be reassuring that the team is heading in the right direction. It was proof positive that Detroit is not the only team struggling with significant injuries, questionable playcalling and some painfully bad defense.
In fact, the Lions look to be in a lot better shape on all those fronts than quite a few other teams. Take Green Bay, which gave up 363 rushing yards to the Eagles in Sunday night’s loss. The Packers also lost top safety Darnell Savage to an injury and then watched QB Aaron Rodgers walk to the locker room with a rib injury to go with his broken throwing thumb.
Or take the Ravens. The AFC North media darlings blew a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars where they settled for chip-shot field goals instead of potential touchdowns and not trusting a defense that was playing great at the time. Defensive lapses later prevented a win once Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars figured out the Ravens couldn’t cover anyone outside the hashes. John Harbaugh got outcoached in a game Baltimore should have won handily.
Then there are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Epic clock mismanagement and timid playcalling by head coach Todd Bowles directly led to the Bucs losing a game in overtime in Cleveland. The bad coaching choices led to an unnecessary injury, with the Bucs losing standout right tackle Tristan Wirfs in the extra period that never should have been. The Browns’ game-winner came on a play where Tampa Bay CB Carlton Davis whiffed on a jam and fell down.
These are alleged top contenders all faltering in ways that Lions fans overzealously criticize Dan Campbell for coaching. And it wasn’t confined to those teams, either; Seattle and Arizona both blew games thanks to late defensive collapses and iffy play choices.
That’s not to say Campbell should escape criticism. He needs to continue to improve his in-game coaching. But for the “Same Old Lions” fans who bemoan every loss as an epic coaching failure distinctly unique to Detroit, this weekend was a rebuke, a repudiative reminder that the issues some believe are strictly Lions problems are, in fact, endemic around the entire league.
I came away from the weekend feeling so much more optimistic about the Lions, both in the short term and the long haul. The Lions are far from a completed recipe, but the ingredients sure smell nicer than quite a few of the other teams are trying to cook with. Where other teams are fading into losing oblivion, the Lions continue to improve and grow. Even with the painful loss to Buffalo, Week 12 proved to be a weekend to be thankful for where the Lions are heading. So many other teams are burning down in the other direction, and that was never more obvious than this weekend in the NFL.
