The Detroit Lions kept their season alive after a crucial win over the Chicago Bears Sunday. In order to reach the postseason the Lions will have to win out, but it doesn’t change the fact that they played a dominating game from start to finish. Instead of a breakdown of Chicago’s game, let’s take a moment to highlight some of the key contributors to Detroit’s Week 17 victory.
The offensive line
The Lions offensive line doesn’t get enough credit for what they’ve done this year. Being a top three group in the NFL. Four players could potentially be Pro Bowlers and top 100 players in the NFL when all is said and done.
True to form, Dan Campbell wants to win in the trenches, and this unit has been doing it consistently all year.
D’Andre Swift
Like many other Lions fans, I’ve been more than frustrated with Swift this year. Despite a tremendous offensive line up front, he doesn’t seem to take advantage of the holes the line is creating.
Throughout the year Swift has missed out on many opportunities because either he avoids contact or doesn’t let the play develop in front of him. However vs. Chicago this week, he stopped focusing on making people miss and finally played a north/south game. He put his head down and simplified his game. The result? He scored two touchdowns in a game for the first time this year, while accumulating over 100 total yards.
Alex Anzalone
Many Lions fans were more than frustrated with Alex last year and were calling for his replacement. However, this year, he’s shown why he was brought to Detroit in the first place. You see him making impact tackles and pass break ups week after week in 2022.
It would have been easy for him to just put his head down and say the fans had turned on him, however he got to work and knew exactly what he needed to do to make this team successful. Ever since the Packers game not only has he played better but the entire defense has responded as a result.
The rookies
Against Chicago, almost every single rookie the Lions drafted this year had a fantastic game. Hutchinson and Houston did their things as usual and are putting up historical numbers. However Jameson Williams is finally getting comfortable and getting more reps as well.
Josh Pascal had a breakout game with two sacks, and Kirby Joseph and Malcolm Rodriguez made some key plays that killed Chicago’s momentum. James Mitchell is also becoming a reliable target that makes the TJ Hockenson departure more comforting.
How quickly the Lions go from fringe playoff team, to bonafide contender relies heavily on the development of the aforementioned players. And if Week 17 was any indication, the franchise is well on its way to turning the corner.
Aaron Glenn
Some might think I’m crazy for saying this, but Aaron Glenn has been way better the second half of the season than he was coming out of the gates. After a terrible first quarter attempting to defend Justin Fields’ scramble ability, the team simplified things to a “contain” plan and severely limited his impact for the remainder of the contest.
Not only was the defense able to shut down his ground game the last three quarters, but they managed to hold him to under 100 yards passing the entire game. He changed the game plan and made the Lions look like one of the most dominating teams in the NFL. It would have been easy to make Aaron Glenn the scapegoat this year. And while his seat is still not 100% safe, he’s at least improved every week from midseason onwards. Players see a coordinator that’s trying and loves this team and they’ve responded as a result.
While Detroit still needs some outside help to make the playoffs, the fact that they’re still playing meaningful football in Week 18 is a change of pace that any Lions fan will happily take to kick off 2023.
-Robert Martin
Twitter: @Defense_Rob
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.