”Where there’s smoke” Lions’ coach promises fire.
Bears tight end Cole Kmet talks about Aidan Hutchinson’s costly mistake and the chain of events that followed after Sunday’s 28-13 win over the Lions at Soldier Field. “I said to myself, ‘No way in the world are they going to jump,’” Kmet says. “And then they jumped. I don’t know how you jump in a situation like that, but they jumped.”
And after the way things went — or didn’t go so well — Kmet could be talking to Lions fans right now, some of whom are ready to jump.
The Lions (9-4) are two games up on the second-place Vikings (6-6) in the NFC North and have a 99% probability of making the playoffs, according to The New York Times’ playoff simulator. At this point, their chances of winning their division are better than 8 out of 10, and Detroit’s magic number is three with four games left in the season.
But after a second straight loss in three games, and another game filled with mistakes and turnovers against a second-to-last-place division opponent, Lions coach Jim Caldwell knows that the narrative has shifted beneath his team.
“I know this: if you have the right people, the right coaching staff, you’ll get out of this,” Caldwell said Monday as the team turned its attention to Saturday’s primetime game against Denver (3 p.m. ET) at Ford Field, “and most importantly, we don’t believe the narrative that’s not in our building or the tape.”
Once again, the coach knows what everyone else is saying.
From being one of the NFL’s “feel-good stories” and a national prognosticator’s favorite to make it to the Super Bowl, the Lions have become a team that is giving many of their loyal fans that “it’s going to take a while” feeling.
Sunday’s lethargic performance in windy conditions against Justin fields and the Bears added insult to the injury for those of us who remember the “last division title” the Lions won in 1993, as well as the “fumbles” that cost them a spot in the playoffs in 2014 and 2016, the last two years in which they made it to the wild-card round.
And for those of you who tuned in on Sunday night to the nationally televised game between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, two teams the Lions currently trail in the NFC East, you may have grumbled, “That’s not looking good for Detroit right now,” as NBC’s Chris Simms put it.
It really depends on how you look at it. But it’s no secret that the Lions’ defense has regressed significantly since Detroit’s mid-season bye week. They’re allowing over 30 points a game and are last in the league in pass efficiency, and they’re looking for something that’s missing. “I think we’ve lost our confidence,” defensive end John Cominsky said Sunday.
It’s no surprise that Goff has begun to buckle under pressure behind a patchwork offensive line: After turning the ball over just five times in the first nine games, he’s thrown eight in the past four. It’s also no coincidence that he’s been sacked 10 times in the last month, and he called Sunday’s offense — which gained 61 yards on seven possessions in the second half — “uncharacteristic,” “unterministerial, and extremely frustrating.” Add in the key injuries of Frank Ragnow and Alim McNeill, some questionable play-callers and game management on the coaching staff’s part, and the fact that there really aren’t any secrets in the NFL for any team in December, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Lions’ expectations have begun to outpace the talent on their roster after a 5-1 start.
The one thing that will remain the same this week is Campbell’s attitude. He won’t change his approach this week, he says, as he gets his team ready to face his old boss, Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos, who have won six of their last seven games since starting 1-5 to re-enter the AFC playoff race.
If you’re curious about what Campbell’s message will be to his players at the beginning of a short week of practices, don’t look for anything too wild.
Staying consistent is key,” he added. “If we start acting like this house is on fire, it’s only going to get hotter. We know exactly what we need to do. We need to get back to business.”
The Lions’ head coach knows this too: the same thing some fans may have found most concerning about Sunday’s loss was also what he found “most encouraging.” Some of our most talented players on the team didn’t play very well. Those are prideful guys, and believe me, they’ll come back, just like us coaches, and we’ll be right back to business as usual.
While Campbell didn’t name any specific players, it’s easy to see which guys he was talking about on Monday. For starters, the Lions’ defense had its worst performance of the season in terms of Pro Football Focus grading, and Taylor Decker was near his season low as well.
Whether it was drops by St. Brown (three catches on nine targets) or Anzalone (early penalties and missed tackles on his first play back from thumb surgery) or a critical fumble by Goff and a fourth-down blunder by Hutchinson, “it’s something we expect to get better,” Goff said.
The Lions’ lack of swagger and confidence, especially for a defense that went through some personnel changes on Sunday, should be alleviated by a raucous home crowd, just as it was against the Raiders right after the Lions’ embarrassing loss in Baltimore. This team has performed well in front of national television audiences this season, and it’s worth noting that the Lions have not lost three in a row since last October.
So, where there’s smoke there’s fire.
All I know is the locker room and the players we have, and we’ll do our part,” said Campbell. “If they don’t do their part, we’ll do ours. If they don’t, we’ll go our separate ways.”
