Offense wins championships in the modern NFL. This may not be a sentence that sits well with fans of the way football used to be played, but it is the cold truth in the game's current state.

Defense has become extremely difficult in a version of the NFL that contains strange flags, rules that overprotect offensive players, and schemes that take advantage of traditional defensive game plans.

The Super Bowl was an offensive boat race, the majority of playoff games came down to who had the better quarterback and offense, and defensive stands against the best offenses in the league became harder to come by.

The paradigm has shifted dramatically, and the teams that realize this will be the most successful in a significant way.

This shift is great for a team like the Detroit Lions. 

The Lions had one of the worst defenses in the NFL last season and still just barely missed out on the playoffs. They can thank their excellent offense for getting them as close as they did.

Everyone knows that Detroit was good on offense, but how good they were will surprise a lot of people.

With offense being the most important side of the ball, passing the ball is the most successful and important method of moving the chains consistently, and the Lions were nearly on level with the Super Bowl champions in this regard in 2022.

Andy Reid & Patrick Mahomes were impervious to whatever was thrown at them last year

literally everything defenses tried to throw at them, they solved

it was truly amazing

they destroyed man or zone, didn't matter… pic.twitter.com/H3YpKeQNcX

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) February 24, 2023

Warren Sharp's Tweet and the following thread tell a similar story: the Lions are one of the best passing offenses in the NFL by a healthy margin.

Whether the defense was zone or man, the Lions were near the same success that the Chiefs produced with Patrick Mahomes as their quarterback. Sharp then discusses the location of safeties, time to throw, the distance of passes, quality of defenses, and halves. The data stayed consistent with the Lions at or near second to the Chiefs.

The Lions may not be on the exact same level as the Chiefs, but most of these charts had Detroit just shy of the Super Bowl champions with one of the best quarterbacks to ever play, and that is saying something.

There is certainly still room for the young Lions to grow and continue developing a deeper identity in the passing game, but the numbers show that there is a lot to be excited about for Detroit in 2023.

Super Bowl hopes might be a bit too high for now, but pairing this offensive success with a slightly better defense should make for a very exciting playoff run very soon.

Featured image via Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports