The very last thing the Detroit Lions need to do is fire Kelvin Sheppard

The Lions would be crazy to fire their first-year DC

Mike Payton — Detroit Lions Beat Writer
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I understand how you feel, Detroit Lions fans. You feel cheated, mad, and like you wasted your time this season. You might even feel like it’s all over and the window is closed. When you feel like that, it’s easy to fall back into old habits. Old habits, such as calling for everyone and their mother to get fired. In earlier years, I would have been right behind you. Right now, I think you’re crazy.

Kelvin Sheppard has more than earned the right to stay on this coaching staff

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that the Sheppard went out there and coached a perfect game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That’s actually the last thing I’ll tell you. But what I will say is that you have to see the nuance and the bigger picture here. Even if you don’t want to, you have to. Look at the tools he has to work with, though.

Yes, “injuries are a part of the game” and blah blah blah, but the Lions are without both their All-Pro and Pro Bowl safeties, Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph. They’re missing their starting cornerback, Terrion Arnold. D.J. Reed is playing, but he’s clearly lost a step from his hamstring injury. Alim McNeill is having the worst year of his career, and Brad Holmes did nothing to help Aidan Hutchinson in the offseason. All of that matters.

Even with all that, Sheppard had this Lions defense in a really good place before everything fell apart after the bye week. They were one of the better defenses in the league. Don’t forget that night the Legion of Whom became a thing. Everyone was talking about how good a DC Sheppard was. It just seems crazy to think anyone would want that guy fired now.

Sheppard needs to make some tweaks going forward, and he needs Branch and Joseph back. He also needs his GM to go out and make some moves for him. If all that happens and the Lions’ defense doesn’t succeed, then we can start talking about the Lions’ options. Until then, this is your guy, Lions fans.

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