Why Aren’t We Talking About This? If the Lions flip these 3 overlooked stats, they’re going to be incredibly hard to beat
Detroit still moved the ball and got after quarterbacks last season, but three less glamorous numbers show where its old identity quietly disappeared.
The Detroit Lions have the talent, the coaching, and the culture to make another deep run. But there are 3 stats from last season that quietly undermined everything this team tried to do, and if Detroit can’t get on the right side of them in 2026, the same problems will creep back in. These aren’t the flashy numbers everyone talks about. They’re the ones hiding underneath the surface, and they matter more than most fans realize.
This is the first edition of a new series called “Why Aren’t We Talking About This?” and it felt right to start with the numbers that shaped the Lions’ 2025 season more than people want to admit.
Third-down conversions fell off a cliff
The Lions converted just 38.8% of their third downs last year. That’s a real problem. In 2024, they converted 47.6%. That’s a massive drop, and it changed the entire identity of the offense.
You have to understand what that number means in practice. A lot of these weren’t third-and-longs. They were third-and-shorts, third-and-manageables that the Lions just couldn’t convert on. The offensive line struggled, Jared Goff was under more pressure, and the run game couldn’t get going in those critical spots. That meant more fourth-down attempts, more stalled drives, more punts. It stripped out everything the Lions offense is supposed to be about.
You’d love to see Detroit get back to 47% or even hit 50%, but even getting to 42% would be a significant improvement. At 38.8%, you’re killing drives. That’s not Lions football. For years, this team has been about getting to third-and-manageable, converting there or setting up a fourth-and-manageable, and keeping the chains moving. Last year, that broke down.
Red zone scoring took a costly dip
Detroit converted 62.5% of its red zone attempts last year. That sounds decent until you compare it to the 69.4% mark they hit in 2024, which was one of the best rates in the league.
The Lions offense was still explosive. They still scored a lot of points. But when you’re settling for field goals instead of touchdowns, it catches up to you. You can’t play that game all day in the NFL. Down the stretch of the season, you saw it over and over. A field goal here, a field goal there, and then at the end of the game you’re asking: would a touchdown there have changed the outcome? Almost every single time, the answer was yes.
Getting back to that top-tier red zone efficiency has to be a priority for this offense. The talent is there. The scheme is there. The execution just has to follow.
The run defense slipped, and it changed everything
Defensively, everyone wants to talk about the pass rush. The Lions were 4th in sacks last year and 5th in pressures, but they were near the bottom of the league in time to throw and time to pressure. They could have realistically been the No. 1 team in the league in sacks and pressures had those numbers been better.
But the pass rush isn’t the most important thing the Lions need to fix on defense. It’s stopping the run.
In 2024, Detroit had the 6th-best run defense in the NFL, allowing 103 yards per game. In 2023, they were even better, finishing 2nd with just 91.1 yards per game. In 2025, they dropped all the way to 13th, allowing 114.5 yards per game. That may not sound catastrophic, but it shifted the entire defensive structure. Teams were running on the Lions, and it changed the game for them, especially during the back half of the season when injuries piled up.
The Lions went out this offseason and made a strong effort to add pass rush juice. Based on what I saw this summer at training camp and during the preseason, they look like they succeeded in that department. But they also have to get back to stuffing the run.
The good thing is there are signs that’s happening. Jahmyr Gibbs had a hard time at training camp this year. On the final day, the Lions ran an all-day scrimmage. Gibbs broke off a 59-yard touchdown in that scrimmage but finished the entire day with just 58 yards because Detroit kept stuffing him. He had a 16-yard touchdown run in a separate overtime drill, but in the four quarters of scrimmage work, the defense dominated. Gibbs got his one big play, and the Lions shut him down everywhere else. That’s the kind of run defense this team needs to be.
It all ties together
If the Lions can fix their third-down woes, get back to elite red zone scoring, and stuff the run the way they used to, they’re going to be a very hard team to stop. I think they have the right players to do it. I think the offensive line is much better. I think the defensive line is much better. But only time will tell. We’ll come back around Week 5 and see where things stand.
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