We’re heading into Week 5 of the Detroit Lions season, and Lions fans have questions. Understandably, a lot of them. The defense is under fire, the offense isn’t as explosive as usual, and everyone wants to know what changed since training camp. Let’s break it down.

How much blame belongs to the Lions linebackers?

A lot more than they’re getting. I think this is an association thing. When passes are completed, people automatically point at the secondary. That makes sense. Cornerbacks and safeties are the guys you picture trying to stop the pass.

But the Lions’ linebacker unit is getting beat up right now. The group has allowed 36 receptions for 333 yards and three touchdowns. Much of that falls on Jack Campbell and Derrick Barnes.

Campbell is having a rough season. He has a 44.5 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus, which is about the worst of his career. Coverage was something he struggled with coming into the league, but he started to improve. Last year he was a first-team All-Pro linebacker. This year, it’s a big regression, and I can’t explain it.

So yes, I agree the linebackers are being let off the hook. Everybody is looking in one direction, and it isn’t at them. They have to get better.

What’s my honest take on the offense?

It’s the last thing Detroit needs to worry about. I get it. The Lions aren’t as explosive as you’re used to seeing. They’re 14th in the league in explosive plays, which is middle of the pack.

But they’re also fifth in points, seventh in total yards, and fifth in passing efficiency. They’re still doing their thing.

It isn’t for a lack of trying, either. I don’t want to pile on Jameson Williams, but he has had multiple shots at big plays and hasn’t been able to finish them. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. Jahmyr Gibbs has had plenty of explosives, but then you get a game like Carolina where everything fell apart and Detroit had to abandon the run to throw all night. Isaac TeSlaa has had his big moments, too.

Some more explosives would be nice. That said, the Lions are scoring and getting into the end zone. I don’t have any concern about this offense.

What changed with the defense since training camp?

I’d like an answer to that as well. I was wildly impressed with this defense in training camp, and I wasn’t alone. A lot of writers came away feeling the same way.

The pressure was the first thing that stood out, and that part has shown up. The Lions are second in the league in pressures, second in sacks, and top 10 in time to pressure. The defensive line is doing its job.

But I also thought the run defense was going to be dominant. Gibbs had a lot of days in camp where he would break one explosive play and then get stuffed the rest of the way. Stopping the run and making teams one-dimensional was the most important thing this defense needed to do. Now Detroit can’t do it. If you can’t stop the pass or the run, I don’t know where this season goes. It’s that concerning.

The secondary looked good in the summer, too. D.J. Reed had a strong camp, and I thought he was back to his old self. It just hasn’t worked. Maybe the Lions didn’t show enough versatility, and the defense really only has one look. I don’t know. Nobody thought this would be the best defense in the league, but we all expected it to be significantly better than last year. That hasn’t happened.

Which Lions rookies could make the first-team All-Rookie Team?

The Athletic put Blake Miller and Skyler Gill-Howard on its early first-team All-Rookie Team, and I think both have a good shot. But I’m keeping an eye on Derrick Moore.

I know what you’re thinking. He’s barely played. That’s true, but that’s how rookies work in Detroit. They start slow with low snap counts or limited opportunities. Go back and look at Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Kerby Joseph, Alim McNeill, and even Brian Branch a little bit. Only a handful of guys like Penei Sewell, Aidan Hutchinson, and Miller have started right away.

I think Moore gets more opportunities on the other side of the bye. If he doesn’t, I’m still not concerned. Maybe it’s more of a 2027 thing. You’d like to see more of your second-round pick, though, and I believe he has the pass-rush ability to make some noise once he gets on the field.

Why can’t Dan Campbell just tell Kelvin Sheppard to stop calling bad plays?

Last week I called for defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard’s job, and this question sounds like it should be simple. Part of it is. Lions head coach Dan Campbell can tell him to stop doing certain things on third and fourth down.

The other side is that the Lions believe in their system. I’m not saying they should, but they do, and they’re trying to will it to work. Sheppard mentioned earlier in the week that there are some schematic wrinkles Detroit hasn’t shown yet.

When you watch the tape, some fixes look simple. On third-and-long, why not show pressure and then back off of it? Fool the offense, put your defensive backs at the sticks, and make the quarterback throw a 5-yard pass instead of a 9-yard pass. Detroit hasn’t done enough of that. We’ll see if it changes Sunday against the Cardinals.

When do Nick Whiteside and Ahmed Hassanein play, and why is Reed still CB1?

Who else is going to do it? I hate to put it that way, but it’s a personnel issue. You could throw Ennis Rakestraw out there, but I don’t think it gets much better.

Whiteside had a great start to camp and was making plays every day. Then it faded, and he wasn’t impressing by the end. That changed how the Lions viewed him, and he landed on the practice squad. He should get some opportunities. What are you hurting at this point?

As for Hassanein, he had a good summer. But the defensive line is the only part of this defense playing well. Why upset the apple cart? Let’s see if that holds up against Arizona.

What’s a mortgage-the-future trade the Lions could make to help the defense?

That’s the thing. I don’t think there is one right now.

To be clear, I’m not saying there isn’t a trade the Detroit Lions can make that could help them. I believe there are some. But if we’re talking about a mortgage-the-future type of move, where Detroit does something crazy, I just don’t see anything out there.

Look at some of the top cornerbacks in the league. None of those guys are getting traded. The Broncos aren’t going to trade Patrick Surtain II. The Texans aren’t going to trade Derek Stingley Jr. The Eagles aren’t going to trade Quinyon Mitchell, and they aren’t getting rid of Cooper DeJean either. Seattle isn’t letting Devon Witherspoon out of there. Pittsburgh likes where Jamel Dean is right now.

Maybe, and I mean a very small maybe, Houston might consider moving Kamari Lassiter. The Panthers might have traded Mike Jackson, but now he’s on IR. Joey Porter Jr. was the one guy where I thought, OK, I could see a deal happening.

I’d like to see where things are in a couple of weeks. Some teams may be in bad situations by then. Maybe you call the Ravens about Marlon Humphrey or take a shot at Jalen Ramsey. Denzel Ward has made it seem like he doesn’t want to leave Cleveland, but you could call and see if the Browns are willing to move him. Things are going well there, though. Maybe you call the Dallas Cowboys about DaRon Bland. With Porter there now, maybe they feel like they can move off him.

It’s not that I wouldn’t entertain a big swing. It’s that nothing is available. That doesn’t mean there aren’t good cornerbacks the Lions can trade for, and I think they’ll find somebody. It just won’t be the kind of deal that mortgages the future.

Why do the Lions keep starting slow?

You can point right to Carolina. Detroit’s first two drives in Sunday’s game essentially ended because of procedural penalties. Just little mistakes.

The Lions were moving the ball on both drives. Then all of a sudden they had to back up 5 or 10 yards. A second-and-10 turns into a second-and-15, and now you’re even further behind the sticks trying to catch up. Detroit has traditionally been good at overcoming those things. This season, it hasn’t been.

Here’s the big number. The Lions have scored one touchdown in the first quarter all season. That has to change immediately, especially if the defense is going to be such an issue. You need to get out ahead and stay ahead as much as you possibly can. That means scoring on these opening drives.

It also means getting rid of the procedural penalties, the little stuff Dan Campbell keeps talking about every week. Discipline is a real issue for this team. We ran a simulation of the Carolina game where we removed a couple of procedural penalties, and the Lions won. We didn’t change anything about how the defense performed. We just took away a false start and a holding call. It’s that simple. Detroit has to be cleaner.

Will the Lions play Bishop Fitzgerald any significant snaps soon?

I’m tempted to say no. I think the Lions see something in Fitzgerald’s future, but he’s still a rookie, and an undrafted one at that. There are things to be excited about in his potential. I just don’t know that Detroit wants to throw him into the fire right away.

Even if they did, he’d probably see 15 to 20 snaps in a game. He’s not going to start, and he’s not going to get crucial snaps anytime soon.

I do wonder when we’ll see him, though. Fitzgerald has been a healthy scratch for the first two games he’s been here, and the Lions are thin at safety. They have Chuck Clark and Christian Izien, who are both playing fairly well. Behind them is Jalen Mills, who has one practice squad elevation left.

That’s why the Arizona Cardinals game makes the most sense to me. You don’t want to burn through all of Mills’ elevations just yet. But even when Fitzgerald does get on the field, I wouldn’t expect a lot. This feels more like a 2027 thing for him, assuming he passes the test with this team.

Is there a T.J. Hockenson-type player the Lions could trade for assets while staying competitive?

I don’t think so. When you look at who the Lions have hitting free agency after this season, I don’t see much that teams are going to want.

Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch are both in that group, but I expect both to get extensions, probably before the season ends. I also think the Lions may look to keep Izien. Like I said above, they’re too thin at safety to lose anybody right now.

The only guy I can think of is Juice Scruggs. Cade Mays is coming back, and the expectation is that Mays will jump right in at center. Here’s the thing, though. Scruggs is one of the best centers in the league right now. I know that sounds crazy, but if you head over to Pro Football Focus, Scruggs is the No. 1 highest-graded center in the NFL.

Teams are going to want that. If I’m Baltimore, I’m calling Detroit about Scruggs the minute Mays gets back into the lineup. He’s really the only guy I can see the Lions possibly moving off of.

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