The Bears’ defense is a perfect example of something Lions head coach Dan Campbell preaches about a lot
The Lions turnover issue is really what killed them at the end of the day
Let’s go all the way back to August, real quick. The Detroit Lions were going through training camp and the preseason, and the big thing that Lions head coach Dan Campbell kept talking about was how the Lions’ defense needed to force more turnovers.
Fast forward to when the Lions went on their bye week after a win over the Buccaneers. The Lions had forced 11 turnovers, had one of the best defenses in the league, and everything was going just fine. The biggest concern turnover-wise was that the Lions hadn’t been capitalizing on them. In the second half of the year, the Lions forced just seven turnovers. Coincidentally, they started losing a lot of football games. In total, the Lions were 1-5 in games where they didn’t force a turnover.
The Bears are a perfect example of what Dan Campbell wants the Lions defense to be
At the risk of Bears fans finding this and then bugging me in the comments about how their team is perfect in every way and something about coping with the loss of Ben Johnson despite the Lions offense still being first in points for and third in total yards, the Bears’ defense is nothing to write home about.
They’ve allowed the 11th most points. Just one spot under the Lions. They’ve allowed the fifth most yards in the league as well. They don’t get after the quarterback much. They’re 22nd in the league. If you want to get analytical, they’re 24th in defensive DVOA. But they lead the league in takeaways, and that hides all their deficiencies.
“They’ve – really since that time they lead the League in takeaways on defense. I mean they’re getting them. It’s like we talk about, it’s contagious for them. Those guys are getting them in a good way. Got one the other night. Once again, it turned into a touchdown. And it’s much more sound.”
That was Dan Campbell on Monday. This is exactly what he wanted from his defense. It really changes things. I mentioned the Lions are 1-5 in games that they didn’t force a turnover. They’re 7-3 in the games where they did force them. The Bears are 1-2 in the games where they didn’t force turnovers.
Going forward, the Lions have to first and foremost stay healthy. Losing Kerby Joseph hurt a lot. He led the league in interceptions last year and was on his way to doing it again this year before missing most of the season. The Lions also need a little bit of what the Bears had this year, and that’s luck. They need a ball to tip off a guy’s hands, or they need some of these punches to go their way, and if they do, they need to make sure they’re the team recovering them. If they were able to get them this year, the season would have gone so much differently.
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