The Detroit Lions stumbled out of the gates in Week 1. Detroit lost an ugly game 27-13 against Green Bay on Sunday. Most NFL analysts predicted that the Lions would take a step back in 2025 after losing both Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. Unfortunately, the Lions gave their fans nothing to latch onto in Week 1 to prove otherwise.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell did not sugarcoat his responses after the game. He owned up to all of Detroit's failings, though he did say that everything that went wrong is fixable.
He also gave the Packers their due credit for dominating in the season opener.
“That team played well,” Campbell said after the game, per The Athletic's Colton Pouncy. “Credit to them and coach LaFleur. They came out and they played outstanding and we didn’t play good enough, we didn’t coach good enough — including me.”
The Packers may deserve some credit, but there is also plenty of blame to hand out too.
Let's not forget, the Lions have dominated the NFC North for the past two years. Such an embarrassing loss is still inexcusable for a team as talented as Detroit.
So what went wrong? And who is the most to blame?
Below we will explore who is most to blame for the Lions' embarrassing Week 1 loss to the Packers.
John Morton did not impress in debut as Lions offensive coordinator
To put it mildly, John Morton looks like a big downgrade from Ben Johnson.
Detroit's new OC did not have many answers on Sunday. Morton orchestrated a bland attack that did not seem to have any answers for Green Bay's deep coverage shells.
“They play deep coverage, man,” Campbell said. “They play a lot of Cover 2, they’ll play some three buzz and they keep everything in front of them. That’s how that defense is designed and so we knew that and the plan was to stay patient. Be patient and I thought Goff was. We took what was there and felt like eventually those shots would show. Just couldn’t quite get to them, you know? By the time you get a chance, or you hope you do, you’re down two scores. But that’s the nature of this defense and we weren’t able to generate seven when we got in the red zone.”
The Lions only managed 246 yards on offense, a pitiful result for what has been one of the league's best units.
Detroit tried to force the running game early and often. They attempted 21 rushing plays, when counting an end around to Jameson Williams, and only managed 46 yards.
Nobody is asking Morton to suddenly become a tactical genius or trick play artist like Johnson. But it remains to be seen exactly what Morton's vision for Detroit's offense is after Week 1.
Detroit's Week 2 matchup against Chicago and Ben Johnson suddenly looks more important than ever.
Lions o-line repeatedly showed its inexperience against the Packers
Perhaps another reason why Morton struggled in Week 1 is Detroit's offensive line.
It is no secret that the Lions have plenty of turnover on the o-line. Frank Ragnow retired and veteran Kevin Zeitler left to join the Titans.
That puts Detroit in the unfamiliar position of having a good, not great, offensive line.
The Lions still have some promising players. But it will clearly take them some time to gel together and work well as a unit.
Second-year guard Christian Mahogany is now Detroit's left guard. Former left guard Graham Glasgow slid back over to center and rookie Tate Ratledge is in at right guard.
The trio struggled mightily in Green Bay.
They failed to open up running lanes for Gibbs and Montgomery. They also did not hold up well enough in pass protection either.
Part of the problem was miscommunications. That is perhaps best evidenced by this blown assignment that almost resulted in a safety.
Campbell is right that this problem (inexperience and lack of chemistry) can be fixed.
The question is whether or not the Lions can stack wins while they work on it.
Where was Detroit's pass rush in Week 1?
Finally, we could not let Detroit's defensive line off the hook.
Aidan Hutchinson, Marcus Davenport, and the rest of Detroit's edge rushers did not play nearly well enough against the Packers.
The Lions were unable to create any consistent pressure. They did not sack Jordan Love and only had two quarterback hits throughout the entire game.
Detroit's defense was especially an issue in the first quarter. The Packers marched down the field almost unopposed to start the game. That helped swing momentum in their favor.
It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard makes in Week 2.
I would love to see the Lions learn from the game tape from Week 1 and come up with a new plan for next week.
