The Detroit Lions still aren't passing the "do they look as good as they did last season?" test. That's not to say this Lions team is bad, but at 7-5, Detroit is already guaranteed a much worse finish than last year, when the team ran through the regular season with a 15-2 record in what was a much better NFC North than the one we've watched this year. So, what happened?
I think a lot of people will point their fingers at the loss of both coordinators from last year's team, with offensive coordinator Ben Johnson now having great success as the head coach in Chicago while defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is the head man for the Jets. This isn't necessarily inaccurate — current OC John Morton had play-calling duties snatched away by head coach Dan Campbell, so there's truth to this idea that with Johnson gone, Detroit is playing worse football.
But to just lay the blame on Johnson is to excuse the front office's failings last offseason. The Lions didn't really do much to improve the team, and that's been a larger issue than the coaching turnover.
The lack of additional pass rushers
Aidan Hutchinson appeared in just five games last season but led the Lions in sacks with 7.5. Second closest was Za'Darius Smith at 4.0. The Lions were able to generate pressure with their rotational guys and recorded a respectable 33 sacks as a team,10th-worst in the league but fine considering how much time Hutchinson missed.
However, it seemed clear that relying exclusively on Hutchinson to get to the quarterback wasn't the best move. And yet he Lions barely addressed that issue in the offseason, instead relying on players who were already on last year's roster. Al-Quadin Muhammad already has six sacks, so he deserves credit, but why didn't this front office try to grab a decent free agent edge? Instead, the focus on the front seven in free agency was just to extend guys who were already on the team.
An offensive line in transition
The Lions lost center Frank Ragnow to retirement and guard Kevin Zeitler to the Titans in free agency. Both players were on the field for over 90 percent of snaps last season, anchoring a line that ranked fourth in PFF's final offensive line rankings.
Entering Week 13, PFF has the Lions' line ranked 10th; it's still good, but there are two key weak spots. One is center Graham Glasgow, who the team moved from left guard to center to try to replace Ragnow. But Glasgow was much, much better at left guard, and moving him also forced Christian Mahogany into the starting lineup. Mahogany suffered a broken bone in his leg early in November, forcing Kayode Awosika into action. And that's been ... rough, with Awosika currently ranked 67th among guards in PFF's pass block grade.
The Lions used a second-round pick on guard Tate Ratledge, but that was really the only offseason addition to this line that's worth mentioning. Now, the fact that Ragnow didn't retire until June obviously put the team behind the eight ball, but there were still options at that point. Maybe not great ones, but surely the Lions could have done a little more to shore up the line, and if they did, maybe Micah Parsons wouldn't have killed them on Thanksgiving.
The skill positions just kind of lingered
Look: Detroit has a lot of very good offensive players. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery are a great one-two punch at running back. Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams complement each other well at wideout. Sam LaPorta is one of the league's best tight ends.
But the only move the team really made to upgrade was to draft Isaac TeSlaa, which felt like a reach at the time. Instead of relying on some combo of TeSlaa and Kalif Raymond at No. 3 wide receiver, maybe the Lions should have added someone in free agency? You didn't need to add a star or anything, but the team is basically just running out the same roster as last year, except everyone is older now. Even one solid depth move could have really helped this team, because Williams is reverting back to boom-or-bust mode, and the Lions need a little more consistency out on the field.