Lions most to blame for embarrassing loss to Panthers on Sunday Night Football

The Detroit Lions were embarrassed on primetime in Week 4 for the second time this season. Detroit lost 32-26 against Carolina on Sunday Night Football in a game where Bryce Young looked like Josh Allen. The Lions struggled to slow down the Panthers’ passing game and gave up a whopping 445 total yards of offense.

So what exactly went wrong for Detroit? And should fans be worried now that the Lions fell to 2-2 on the season?

These are the Lions most to blame for their embarrassing Week 4 loss to the Panthers on SNF.

On balance, Goff is in the middle of an excellent season. Unfortunately, the veteran quarterback made a few mistakes in Week 4 that contributed to the crushing loss.

Goff missed Amon-Ra St. Brown late in the game when the star receiver was open in the end zone. He also committed a huge delay of game penalty that compounded Detroit’s problems in the fourth quarter when they needed points.

He never looked comfortable from the pocket either, with his lack of mobility really showing up in this one. Goff only took one sack, but pressure forced several of his throws off target.

To top it all off, the Lions had the ball with a chance to win the game late in the fourth quarter. But Detroit just couldn’t string together a winning drive, let alone a first down.

Remember, Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson are both on injured reserve for the Panthers. That means Detroit’s offense was going up against a compromised Carolina defense. On paper, Goff and the offense should have shredded the Panthers through the air.

If Bryce Young (and every other QB to face the Lions) can thrive in that situation, why couldn’t Goff?

Goff is human and bound to make a few mistakes from time to time. But with Detroit’s defense looking completely inept (more on them later), the offense doesn’t have any margin for error. It is a lot of pressure to be forced to play a perfect game or else the game will be lost.

Ultimately, Goff and the offense could have played better on SNF. That said, fans can count on the offense to play a lot better next week.

At the end of the day, football is about players making big plays. There is a lot more that goes into it, including coaching, which will be addressed in a minute. But the Lions just didn’t get enough plays from their defense on SNF.

Detroit threw everything at the wall, trying almost every defensive back against Tetairoa McMillan. It did not matter who was covering him because McMillan was open the entire night. He finished with 14 receptions for 192 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Even when Detroit could bottle up everyone else, they just couldn’t put a lid on McMillan.

To their credit, Detroit’s defensive players put the blame squarely on themselves after the game. Key Lions defenders like Jack Campbell, Aidan Hutchinson, and Roger McCreary all defended the coaching staff in the locker room after the loss.

“We just got to work together,” McCreary said, per Benjamin Raven of MLive.com. “We got to take it back. We got to learn from our lessons — I know we keep saying that, ‘learn from our lessons.’ But we just really got to execute and get off the field. At the end of the day, that’s just us working along, communicating, us just being with each other the whole way. That’s how I feel. Not turning our backs on each other, not pointing fingers. We just got to stay together.”

The Lions have been opportunistic at times this season. Detroit has four total takeaways through their first four games, with all of them coming in winning efforts. However, when those splash plays evaporate, the Lions have not played well enough on a down-to-down basis to hang with almost any competent NFL offense.

Sheppard may be the most unpopular figure on the team after the first four weeks.

The players themselves had put together a few bad games. But the nuts and bolts of the defensive scheme have been evident in every game this season. Look no further than the raw accounting stats to see just how bad Detroit’s defense has been so far.

Detroit has allowed 423.8 points per game through four games. Not only is this the worst in the NFL, there is a roughly 30 yards per game gap between them and the next team. The Lions are also last in points allowed per game at 31.8.

Yes, the Lions are without several key pieces in the secondary. But that does not excuse some of the schematic failings of Detroit’s defense. Lions defenders looked confused at multiple times throughout this game. That opened the door for the Panthers to feast on RPOs once they learned the Lions had absolutely no answers to stop it.

Head coach Dan Campbell did not want to talk about possibly making a change at defensive coordinator after the game. So it is safe to assume that Detroit’s defense will simply try to do a better job with their existing personnel and coaches for the time being.

Sheppard needs to figure out some schematic answers to get Detroit’s defense turned around ASAP. If that doesn’t happen, the Lions won’t stand a chance this season.

This article first appeared on NFL on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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