The ‘Detroit Lions struggle vs. backup QBs’ narrative just got completely exposed
Detroit Lions narrative about backup quarterbacks just got completely exposed after a full Dan Campbell era breakdown, and what the numbers actually show isn’t what most fans think.
If there’s one thing I love doing more than anything in this business, it’s busting narratives. So I thank the Detroit Lions fans who have given me the opportunity to do that today.
Here’s the deal. On Wednesday, we put out a video on YouTube about the four biggest advantages the Lions have in 2026. One of them was the number of unproven quarterbacks they’ll face in 2026. Here’s a clip of that section:
That clip went on all social media outlets, and a bunch of the comments were something like this.
So on that note…
Are the Lions really bad against backup quarterbacks?
Ok, so what we’re going to do is take a look at every single time the Lions have played a backup quarterback during the Dan Campbell era, and we’ll break down that quarterback’s performance and whether or not the Lions lost that game. Of course, quarterback wins aren’t a real thing. I think you’ll really see that here.
Note: If you’re on mobile, you can slide the table over to see full numbers.
| Quarterback | Yards | TD’s | INT’s | Win/Loss |
| Mason Rudolph | 242 | 1 | 1 | Tie |
| Bailey Zappe | 188 | 1 | 1 | Loss |
| Sam Darnold | 250 | 1 | 0 | Loss |
| Nick Mullens | 411 | 2 | 3 | Win |
| Nick Mullens | 396 | 2 | 2 | Win |
| Mason Rudolph | 266 | 1 | 2 | Win |
| Mac Jones | 138 | 0 | 1 | Win |
| Joe Flacco | 184 | 2 | 3 | Win |
| Jake Browning | 251 | 3 | 3 | Win |
| Marcus Mariotta | 213 | 2 | 0 | Win |
| Jameis Winston | 366 | 2 | 1 | Win |
| Max Brosmer | 51 | 0 | 0 | Loss |
Ok, so yeah, I don’t know what you guys are talking about. The Lions have won the majority of these games against teams with backup quarterbacks.
I know a lot of the internet will say, “but they lost to Max Brosmer.” Are we really going to say that a quarterback who threw for 51 yards affected the outcome of a football game? If there were ever a case for how dumb quarterbacks are. This is the case right here.
Ok, let’s delve a little deeper here because I know what the next move will be in the argument.
Are the Lions really bad against rookie quarterbacks?
| Quarterback | Yards | TD’s | INT’s | Win/Loss |
| Justin Fields | 309 | 0 | 1 | Loss |
| Bailey Zappe | 188 | 1 | 1 | Loss |
| Bryce Young | 247 | 3 | 2 | Win |
| Anthony Richardson | 172 | 0 | 0 | Win |
| Caleb Williams | 256 | 3 | 0 | Win |
| Caleb Williams | 334 | 2 | 0 | Win |
| Jayden Daniels | 299 | 2 | 0 | Loss |
| J.J. McCarthy | 143 | 2 | 1 | Loss |
| Max Brosmer | 51 | 0 | 0 | Loss |
I didn’t realize just how little the Lions have actually played rookie quarterbacks in the last half-decade. Caleb Williams certainly played well in his first two games against the Lions. The last two losses to the Vikings are much more about the Lions’ offense not being able to compete than they are about a rookie carving them up.
Obviously, everyone is going to want to bring up the loss to the Commanders in the playoffs, but all the nuance about that is going to be ignored to the highest degree, so we’re not even going to attempt to make the argument again here.
At the end of the day, the Lions do have a schedule full of rookie quarterbacks, long-time backups, and straight unproven guys this year. All they have to do is keep playing against these guys the way they have in the past five years.
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