The writing was on the wall in the lead-up to the Detroit Lions’ matchup against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Dan Campbell‘s team got hit hard by a COVID outbreak, and the result was a somewhat predictable Denver victory, 38-10.
Other teams have been hammered by injuries, and teams like the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals have had COVID outbreaks and still gone on to win their next game. But Detroit proved they don’t have the pieces necessary to face such adversity.
Four different Lions players made their first-ever career start on Sunday. Jalen Elliott replaced Tracy Walker in the secondary. He was joined by Josh Woods, Ryan McCollum, and Shane Zylstra. If we really want to get wild, Craig Reynolds had the most snaps at running back, despite not being listed as the starter. It was his first action with the Lions this year after being called up from the practice squad and had the feel of a first career start based on the touches that went his way. Such a significant roster shakeup isn’t ideal for a team that entered the game 1-10-1. The nightmare became reality as the game unfolded.
Denver isn’t some world-beater. In fact, Vic Fangio’s team is the poster child for what average looks like in the NFL. The defense is good, the offense is meh. The Broncos are a team that can lose to anybody or beat a lot of the better teams in the league when they max out their abilities. With all of Detroit’s roster chaos, they may as well have been facing Arizona on Sunday.
The Broncos wisely kept it simple, running the ball 39 times and only had Teddy Bridgewater throw it 25 times. Melvin Gordon chewed up 111 yards on the ground and Javonte Williams had 73. They knew they didn’t have to get too complex with the blueprint given their opponent.
It’s known far and wide that the Lions are not a good football team. Nobody is claiming otherwise. However, they have played in a ton of games that went down to the wire. Detroit had a real chance to upset Denver until COVID tore through the roster like a summer tornado in the Midwest.
Despite Sunday’s predictable outcome, Campbell and quarterback Jared Goff offered no excuses afterwards.
“What we had to do was not ideal,” Campbell said. “But we were prepared to come in this game with the guys we had and we had a game plan ready to go. We knew what we needed to do and we didn’t do it. We just made too many mistakes. We’re right there to make a play and we don’t make the play. We just weren’t good enough.”
While Campbell is correct in saying the Lions were “right there” to make plays, there’s a big difference between having opportunities and having the ability to reliably capitalize on them. It all boils down to the big ongoing theme for the Lions.
This is a roster that came into the year starving for more legitimate talent. Whether it’s been at wide receiver on the offensive side or in the secondary on the defensive side, this team has lacked the caliber of players necessary to remain even potentially relevant in the NFL. When you then take away those few bits and pieces that prop this thing up, it becomes a disaster.
Take Goff and the offense, for instance. On Sunday, Goff was without T.J. Hockenson, D’Andre Swift, and Jamaal Williams, his three best weapons for most of the year. Hockenson and Swift were the top receivers entering Sunday. One is a tight end, and the other is a running back. Swift and Williams spearheaded the running attack as a one-two punch. To sprinkle on more misery, Goff was also working with his third-string center.
For most of the year, despite riding the roller coaster of inconsistency, Detroit has lurked around in most of their games. Taking away all those options from Goff makes it damn near impossible. Like Campbell echoed, though, Goff didn’t offer any excuses.
“It doesn’t matter,” quarterback Jared Goff said of missing his two best pass catchers, top two running backs, and playing with a third-string center Sunday. “No one feels bad for us. No one feels sorry for us, including ourselves. We went out here intending to win and came up short. Don’t care who was on the field. We had the guys we believe in to win and made too many mistakes.”
Sunday went from an opportunity for the Lions to string together victories to an impossible task. A team already lacking talent was dealt one COVID blow after another. It showed yet again how ugly it can get for the Lions when things go even a little bit off schedule.
