After two weeks of the Detroit Lions season, the No. 1 question I have gotten is whether I think the Lions would fire defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard early. During the season. Something they have done before.

Let’s put it this way: the Lions have only actually fired one coach halfway through a season. That was Aubrey Pleasant. Other than that, they took offensive play calling away from Anthony Lynn in 2021 and then moved on from him after the season. They did it again with John Morton last year. So the question becomes, would they do it again this year with Sheppard?

I don’t think they would fire Kelvin Sheppard. Would they maybe take defensive play calling away from him? I think there’s a reasonable answer there, and that reasonable answer is maybe.

The numbers aren’t pretty

Look at what Sheppard has on the board. In 19 games as the Lions’ defensive coordinator, he’s allowed 25.5 points per game, 345.1 yards per game. That breaks down to 227.2 passing yards per game and 117.9 rushing yards per game. He’s given up 5.30 yards per play, 393 first downs (63 of those from this season alone), 20.7 first downs per game, and a 39.5 third-down conversion rate. The takeaways have been noticeably down. They do have three this year, but all of them came in Week 1. He’s allowed 57 touchdowns total, three per game. It’s not great. Really not good at all.

Sheppard needs a hit

For me to answer what he needs right now, I have to think about pro wrestling. I listen to the podcast Something to Wrestle With, Bruce Prichard, and one of the sayings from the early ’90s, when Vince McMahon and the WWE were struggling and just couldn’t get things going, was that Vince just needs another hit. He needs somebody to pop off, a wrestler to get super popular, a stable to get super fun. And he got that with D-Generation X and Stone Cold Steve Austin. He found those hits.

You start thinking about Sheppard in that sense. Look at his first year and how the Lions beat up on the Baltimore Ravens. Look at that unbelievable game he called against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the Legion of Whom, a bunch of guys we didn’t even know the names of at the time. There were some later games too. He called a good game against the Dallas Cowboys later in the season, a team that was supposed to come in and blow up the Lions defense. But he hasn’t had a hit in a while. Not a moment where you sit back and say, man, all right, I get it.

I know it’s just Week 2. It’s so early in the season. But you give up 30 points in Week 1, you give up 41 in Week 2, and now a Week 3 game against the New York Jets that looked like it was going to be an easier win has you sitting here wondering if this is going to be a scary one.

The defense has dropped off

When Sheppard took over the defensive coordinator job, it felt like there was going to be more diversification, some changes, a defense that was going to stay in a good spot. I know some Lions fans will tell you until they’re blue in the face that the Lions defense has never been good. They’ll tell you it’s because Detroit didn’t trade for Maxx Crosby or Trey Hendrickson or whoever. Just name an edge rusher and it’ll be that guy.

But in 2024, Aaron Glenn had a pretty good defense. It wasn’t the best in the league, it wasn’t historic. Those types of defenses are not easy to build. The Lions have had one historic defense in my entire life, and that was 2014. It was that long ago. But it was a good enough defense to where, had everyone stayed healthy, that Lions team could have won and probably should have won the Super Bowl that year. And there’s been a drop-off with Sheppard at the helm.

Who takes over if play calling gets pulled?

You look at John Morton last year. Week 10, Dan Campbell took over, and the Lions offense immediately started looking better. Same thing in 2021 with Anthony Lynn. Campbell took over Week 10 and the Lions actually started winning games.

Here’s the major difference: Dan Campbell is not a defensive play caller. So who takes over for Sheppard if Campbell decides to take play calling away from him? The next logical choice would be assistant head coach and safeties coach Jim O’Neil. He’s been a defensive coach for many years and has been a defensive coordinator in this league before. He was the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator in 2014 and 2015, the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator in 2016, and at the college ranks, he was Northwestern’s defensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022. Since being in Detroit, he’s gone from defensive assistant to defensive assistant and safeties coach to assistant head coach and safeties coach. O’Neil is incredibly capable of being a defensive coordinator. If they decide to move Sheppard away from play calling, O’Neil can do it.

I know a lot of Lions fans are saying Jim Schwartz is out there and he could be the new defensive coordinator right now or a defensive assistant of some sort. That can’t happen. Schwartz cannot come and be the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions right now. He can’t even work for the Lions because he walked away from the Browns, and if he were to come back into the NFL, he is still under contract with Cleveland. The Browns have retained rights over him. Even though he submitted a resignation letter and chose to sit out, Schwartz is still under contract. He cannot work for the Lions this year. You have to get that out of your head.

The schedule won’t wait

Back to the main question: do I think the Lions would actually do it? I think they would. I honestly do. And I don’t know if it lasts until Week 10.

Sunday is not going to be easy against the Jets, a team coached by his predecessor, the guy who set him up in this league to be a defensive coordinator, trained him, taught him everything he knows. There’s no way Aaron Glenn is going to come in here and lay down for Detroit. Then you’ve got the Carolina Panthers, who despite the Bears hanging 59 points on their defense, put up a lot of points on offense. They can score. You’ve got the Cardinals after that, an interesting team. If you don’t get this thing settled before the bye week, you’re in trouble. Coming out of the bye, you’ve got the Packers, the Vikings, the Miami Dolphins, the Patriots in Germany, the Buccaneers, the Bears, and so on. The season does not get any easier.

How early in the season can it happen? If the Lions go out Sunday and the Jets put up 30 or 40 points on them, then you’re really thinking. There have been situations where coordinators have been fired after just two games. Ken Zampese was fired by the Bengals after just two games. Greg Roman was fired by the Bills in 2016 after just two games. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it’s not unheard of.

I don’t think the Lions would fire or take away play calling from Sheppard before the bye week unless it goes horribly, horribly wrong. The Lions are 1-1. They’re .500 right now. It’s not like they’re 0-2 and everything looks horrible. That Thursday loss was bad, no doubt about it. But it wasn’t a bad loss against a bad team.

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