7 takeaways from the Lions’ loss to the Panthers

After waiting all day for “Sunday Night Football,” the Detroit Lions took on and lost to the Carolina Panthers 32-26. These games are always worse when you wait all day for your team to put out a difficult performance. Detroit falls to 2-2 and faces a whole lot of questions after just a month of football.

Here are my seven takeaways from the Lions’ Week 4 loss to the Panthers.

Penalties have been a problem for the Lions this season, mostly on offense, as they continue to kill successful drives. Of the nine penalties Detroit was called for, seven were on offense. While the defense struggles to make a stop, the offense backs things up and makes life harder on itself.

The defense had an almost clean game with only one penalty, and special teams took one for a better punt opportunity, but the offense can’t seem to get out of its own way. With the defense playing as poorly as they have, the offense can’t make life harder for themselves and go backward. I get the offense shouldn’t be expected to play perfect, but some of these are simple and come at the worst time.

On the drive with just over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter on fourth-and-10, Detroit got called for a delay of game and false start penalty. So now, down by 13 and needing a touchdown, it takes 20 yards to move the chains and keep hope alive. Detroit failed on that attempt on a hook-and-ladder play. If neither, or maybe only one, of those penalties are called, Detroit has a better chance at getting a first down and scoring.

It’s not a good thing when Panthers quarterback Bryce Young starts the game 11-for-11, the most consecutive completions to start a game in his career. The Panthers were without their leading receiver, Jalen Coker, and their third wide receiver, Xavier Legettue. Despite being down two of the three starters, Young and the passing game had their way with the Lions’ secondary.

Young was on fire, finding wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan for 14 catches, 192 yards, and two touchdowns. Detroit’s secondary couldn’t keep up as Young threw for 329 yards, with a 70.7 percent completion percentage. The RPO and quick passing game killed them over and over again.

I’m not sure the return of safety Brian Branch will fix all the secondary woes, since he won’t instantly play every snap or be the same player right away. It will take a few weeks for him to return as a full-time starter, so if the Lions stand pat and think he’ll be the saving grace, it could be another rough season for the defense. The trade deadline is November 10, so time’s ticking.

While the Panthers receivers had their way, the tight ends weren’t as dangerous as expected. Tommy Tremble had four catches for 12 yards, while Darren Waller was the better tight end with three catches for 36 yards, and even third-string Mitchell Evans caught one for 8 yards. The Lions were struggling against tight ends entering Sunday night, so not having them be a factor helped the defense. Detroit better take this good film against the tight ends and prepare for Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride next week.

Entering the game, the Panthers’ run defense ranked dead last in yards allowed and yards per carry allowed, and tied for most touchdowns allowed. So, Detroit ran the ball a lot, right? How about 15 carries while throwing the ball 52 times? Sure, the Panthers’ secondary is missing both starting cornerbacks, but how do you not attack the run more?

The game was a shootout, and with Detroit trailing by double digits in the second half, I understand why you have to ease up on the running game, but abandoning it completely just didn’t feel right. Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs is one of the best running backs in the NFL; he needs to be used more.

While the offense didn’t do itself any favors with some drives stalling due to penalties, it seemed to want to focus more on the passing attack in the end. I get why, but when you have someone as good as Gibbs, you can’t put him on the shelf. Goff threw for over 400 yards and in the end, it wasn’t enough.

It seems some players have the best games of their careers against Detroit. Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard is one of them. He ran for 125 yards against Detroit in 2022, his third-best game ever. On Sunday night, Hubbard ran for 122 yards, the fourth-best game of his career, scoring twice and averaging 6.1 yards per carry.

Hubbard is a solid running back, but it’s troubling that he keeps having these types of games against the Lions, who are known for stopping the run. The secondary is already dealing with problems, so if teams can run and throw on Detroit, every game is about to be a shootout.

The team is a week away from the bye week; do they wait until then to address anything, or should they be aggressive and make changes immediately? I think if you sign or trade for a player, you do it as soon as possible. That gives them a week to learn a few things and a bye week to study and prepare for more playing time.

For coaching, I say you make those changes at the bye week. There’s no point in changing everything a week before you have a week off, and players gotta come back trying to remember what changed. I think it’d be better to present the team with new changes post-bye week to show what is going to change and start fresh.

Does someone need to be fired? Maybe. Who? I couldn’t tell you, but I don’t think firing defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard instantly fixes all the woes this defense has.

I think it’s too early to make such a drastic change, and Lions coach Dan Campbell has never fired a coordinator midseason. Could Sheppard lose defensive playcalling duties? Possibly, but I don’t know who would get the nod to take over that part of his job, as Campbell is more of an offensive mind. That kind of shift could also hurt the culture and the locker room, so whatever needs to happen needs to be done carefully.

While the Lions offense couldn’t find the end zone often, kicker Jake Bates did his job when asked to. He made all four field goals, including the longest from 54 yards out, and made his extra point attempt. Unlike Carolina, Detroit doesn’t have that problem.