The Fall of the 2016 Detroit Lions
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After Week 14, the Detroit Lions were 9-4 and sitting in second place in the NFC, 2 up in the division on Green Bay and Minnesota. Some were thinking "hey, if Cleveland can net a championship, the Cubs can win a World Series, why not the Lions and the Super Bowl? They can go toe-to-toe with the Giants even in New York, give Dallas a run in Dallas and then handle Green Bay at home. After all, this isn't the same Detroit Lions we've seen in the past 50 years. This is it!"
Then they played the games. New York frustrated Detroit's offense as the Lions could do nothing with it and the Giants won 17-6. Detroit's offense rebounded in Week 16 in Dallas by putting up 21 points by halftime to tie the Cowboys, but in the second half Dallas rolled and Detroit's offense went into the dump. And Green Bay at home in front of a nationally televised audience on Sunday Night Football where they stood toe-to-toe once again in the first half, even having the lead at halftime. But the second half, the Lions fell apart on both sides again as Green Bay put up 21 points in the 2nd half as the Lions lost the division at home. Thankfully for the Lions, the Giants (who had nothing to play for) took down the Redskins to keep Detroit in the playoffs.
And then the Lions played in Seattle in the Wild Card Game. For the first half, it was competitive, though Seattle held a lead. Granted, the officiating stunk, but the Lions didn't play well at all even if officiating was better. The second half was all Seattle and Detroit's collapse was complete. So, that begs the question: why did the Lions collapse down the stretch? A few reasons.
Detroit had a difficult task of going to New York and Dallas while finishing up with Green Bay at home.
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1. Their schedule: Giants, Cowboys, Packers, Seahawks. They ran into teams that were playing great football, or had far talented squads than the Lions. It is pretty simple. In fact, looking at Detroit's schedule in 2016, the ONLY team the Lions beat that ultimately had a winning record at the end was Washington. Philadelphia was undefeated at the time Detroit played them, but crashed to 7-9. The others? Vikings, Bears, Jaguars, Colts, Rams, Saints, and the two others accounted for Detroit's win total. 6 of the 7 losses in the regular season the Lions had came at the hands of teams who went over .500, and that were the Cowboys, Giants, Packers, Texans, and (yes) Titans. The Bears were the non-.500 team the Lions lost to and that was early. So in other words, you can argue Detroit beat the teams they were supposed to beat (even then, outside the Saints game, they weren't impressive). But it goes to show they cannot beat the teams they NEED to beat.
Zach Zenner was seldom used in second halves during the Lions fall.
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2. Lack of adjustments at halftime. Detroit at halftime was in each of the 4 games they lost and were playing well. The issue is, the other teams adjusted to their struggles, while Detroit simply did not adjust well or just abandoned things such as the run. It seemed like it was the same movie with Dallas, Green Bay, and Seattle when the Lions used Zach Zenner a good bit in the first half of those games to moderate success and taking pressure off of Stafford. And when the second half arrived and each of those teams made a quick stop on Zenner, the offense chose to started flinging the ball once more. It wasn't any surprise the offense, already inconsistent as is, sputtered.
Tate and the other Lions receivers had difficulty making key catches in the big games.
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3. Inconsistent Offense: Matthew Stafford silenced his critics (until after the Wild Card Game) for most of the season and garnered some MVP votes. But the offense wasn't the same without Calvin Johnson there. It was obvious. Yes, Stafford utilized his other weapons, but it seemed like when a catch was needed, whether it was Golden Tate, Marvin Jones, Eric Ebron, or TJ Jones, they failed to make it. This is where Megatron was needed the most. Add in to an offense where the running game is beyond anemic and you get an offense that at times resemble the Joey Harrington/Mike McMahon Lions of the early 2000's.
The Lions had the schemes that were not bad. They just couldn't tackle.
Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports
4. Inconsistent Defense. I will give Ziggy Ansah a pass for his season given his ankle injury plagued him for most of it and he actually was one of the few who showed up in Seattle yesterday, sacking Russell Wilson twice. But the team had issues bringing down quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers all over the place. Yes, the defense had injury issues (Slay missed a few games, Levy missed almost the whole season, etc.), but they sometimes lack those fundamentals such as bringing players down. I don't think Teryl Austin's play-calling was an issue. There were plays in this run where the Lions had the runner dead to rights for a 3 or 4-yard loss that would turn to a 10-yard gain.. It also didn't help they seemed to be out on the field way more than they should have been at times, especially during this crash though, but they were still a middle-of-the-pack defense.
The Lions had difficulties bringing down the likes of the Rams at home.
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5. They were not very good to begin with. Let's face it here. Yes, the Lions beat the bad teams, and I get that. But 15 out of the 16 games this year they were down in the fourth quarter at some point. That means they were down to the 4-12 Rams at home, the 3-13 Jaguars at home, and the 3-13 Bears at home. I don't want to hear "well, this is the NFL and on any given Sunday..........." I don't see the Patriots struggling against the likes of the Browns or Jets or see these other playoff contenders struggle on a consistent basis. Detroit did this consistently.
So...what is there to do for the Lions?
Bring back Nick Fairley? Could help Detroit's interior defense.
Well, they are addressing the pressing needs of the lines, improving them via draft and signings so that is a start. Obviously, adding a halfback in the draft would work greatly. Ameer Abdullah is having issues keeping healthy and seems more of a return man than anything. So somebody like a Dalvin Cook or a Wayne Gallman would be a good fit for the Lions (probably Gallman as Cook might be off the board by then). They also need a DT that will help out as the Lions tried to replace Suh with Haloti Ngata and it really hasn't happened. So they will either look in the draft or the off-season for help. Maybe bring back Nick Fairley? I don't think Kawann Short would fit financially in what the Lions want to do so there goes that idea.
The Lions to me were a mediocre team that somewhat overachieved in 2016. But there are pieces in place for the Lions to get better, but everything in 2017 has to improve for them or else those come from behind wins against the lowly squads will be losses and 9-7 will be 3-13 in no time.
-Fan in the Obstructed Seat
