Lions' DC Kelvin Sheppard might be running out of time

Bryce Young didn't flinch. On third and long early in the second quarter, the Lions lined up in a six-man front, rushed four, dropped two and blitzed safety Chuck Clark. The running back picked up Clark with ease, and Young hit -- guess who? -- Tet McMillan over the two dropping linebackers for a 26-yard catch and run on a crossing route.

Carolina was starting to cook.

Later that drive on 4th and 4, the Lions again lined up in a six-man front, again rushed four and dropped two, and Young again fired between the two dropping defenders to hit Josh Metchie for an easy first down on a crossing route. Metchie had left D.J. Reed in the dust at the line of scrimmage. Young was 11-for-his-first 11.

He was 12-for-his-first 13 two plays later when he hit -- guess who?? -- McMillan for a 32-yard touchdown on a go-ball against Reed, who was overmatched at the point of the catch. That's become a frustratingly familiar sight for Detroit's defense. McMillan is the third No. 1 receiver to torch the Lions this season, joining Chris Olave of the Saints and Garrett Wilson of the Jets. That trio produced 34 catches for 481 yards and three touchdowns. It was a tight end who torched the Lions in Week 3.

Young made it look even easier in the second half. On 2nd and 9 in the red zone, the Lions blitzed both linebackers and the nickel, which left -- you guessed it! -- McMillan to work one on one against safety Christian Izien, who was flat-footed on the goal-line 10 yards away and never had a chance. McMillan shook Izien with one move, Young hit McMillan in stride and the Panthers led the rest of the way.

"There was no way Christian Izien was going to stay with that," NBC's Cris Collinsworth said on the broadcast.

That was not a knock on Izien. That's a knock on Kelvin Sheppard, who put Izien in position to fail.

Detroit's offense missed two opportunities on back to back plays in Carolina territory to start the fourth quarter: Jameson Williams couldn't come down with a well-placed ball on second down after Goff evaded pressure, and Goff missed St. Brown who was open on a slant on third down. Despite a 10-point deficit with plenty of time remaining, it felt like the game was over. And it felt like the offense knew it, judging by some of their expressions on the sideline during Carolina's next drive. They are playing with almost no margin for error.

"We gotta help 'em out earlier in the game," Aidan Hutchinson said after the Lions' 32-26 loss. "We were just putting a lot of stress on them, really from the first quarter on. We gotta find ways to get stops before the fourth quarter."

He almost laughed at the last sentiment, understanding how low the bar is. The Lions allowed the Panthers to score on seven straight drives.

On 4th and 4 in the fourth quarter with another chance to get off the field, the Lions blitzed linebacker Derrick Barnes who ran into a wall, and Young threw directly into Barnes' vacated spot in the defense for an easy first down to Darren Waller on yet another crossing route. The TV cameras panned to St. Brown, who was sitting on the bench, chewing on his mouthguard like he wanted to spit out the defense.

Young entered Sunday night on a heater, no doubt. He was also playing without one of his top two receivers, his top two offensive tackles and a starting guard. Then he lost another starting tackle midway through the game. For all of Young's success in the first three games, his banged-up offensive line probably helps explain why he had struggled when blitzed.

In Weeks 1 through 3 against the blitz, Young was 26-for-48 (54.2%) with a passer rating of 89.8 that ranked 21st among qualified quarterbacks. He averaged 6.9 yards per attempt.

When blitzed by the Lions Sunday night, he was 8-for-9 with a near-perfect passer rating of 153.2 that ranked first among qualified quarterbacks. He averaged 11.9 yards per attempt. When Sheppard dialed up pressure, Young never batted an eye. He saw it coming and took advantage.

The Panthers and first-year offensive play-caller Brad Idzik also caught Sheppard's defense off guard with a number of run-pass option plays early in the game. The Lions worked it a little bit in practice last week, said Campbell, but not enough to be fully prepared. It froze Detroit's front seven, slowed its pass rush and led to a number of easy completions in the first half to McMillan, "those quick strikes right up the hash, right up the seam," said Campbell. "That was a little something they they mixed in, more of it than the norm."

And once the Lions adjusted, "we started bleeding yards" on the ground, said Campbell. Indeed, Chuba Hubbard -- who once ran all over Detroit's defense in 2022 -- ran all over it again in the second half. He finished with 122 yards on the ground, 6.1 yards a pop, and two touchdowns. Toward the end of the Panthers' seventh straight scoring drive, the defense sucking wind, the offense stuck on the bench, Collinsworth aptly described a "demoralized" Lions defense:

"You're on the field and you're taking snaps away from your offense, and you're tired, and they're pounding you now. They were never supposed to be able to pound the ball on you like this. A little humiliating."

"And that’s the one thing we couldn’t let happen," said Campbell. "We couldn’t start giving up those run yards, because now you’re opening up everything for them. But I think even bigger is that we got no takeaways. We have to get takeaways, we just have to, and we got nothing."

He doubled down on this sentiment later, and spelled out the Lions' reality four games into the season: "We gotta score more points, we gotta be more efficient (on offense) ... and we gotta get takeaways on defense. That’s gonna have to be our recipe." Campbell just said the quiet part out loud: We're not good enough to get stops. That's a glaring indictment of both the scheme and the personnel on the defensive side of the ball.

Campbell is not excused here. He's the one who promoted Sheppard to defensive coordinator in 2025 and who stuck with him after a rocky first season. At this point, with the bye looming, Sheppard might have one more game to get it right. If this defense doesn't look any better against Jacoby Brissett and the Cardinals next week, that would be the most natural time for Campbell to make a mid-season change. He's already done it twice on offense: last year with John Morton and in 2021 with Anthony Lynn. Neither one lasted even 10 games as play-caller.

The difference is, Campbell is an offensive coach. He has a keen feel for how things are supposed to look and function on that side of the ball. When they don't look right, he has the confidence to step in and try to fix them. Whether he trusts his defensive instincts enough to make a similar move with Sheppard isn't clear. And who would run the defense? Safeties coach Jim O'Neil has NFL experience as a defensive coordinator with the Browns and 49ers, but the communication problems in the secondary this season beg plenty of questions about the coaching.

By the way, good defenses aren't built on takeaways. They might have a knack for creating them by overwhelming the offense with high-level players and concepts, but interceptions and fumble recoveries are too random to count on from week to week. A defense depending on takeaways is hiding from its flaws, which always get exposed. The Lions got three takeaways in the season opener, and have one since. Good defense still starts with stops.

Of the top five defenses in points allowed last year, one ranked in the top five in takeaways. The others were sixth, tied for 10th, tied for 19th and tied for 26th. Ditto the year prior; the others were sixth, ninth, 13th and 14th.

Sheppard and the Lions have played more zone this year in an effort to create more takeaways. Instead, they've created a disjointed secondary. Every quarterback they've played has taken advantage of soft coverage on the sideline and huge holes over the middle between the linebackers and defensive backs. The Lions have allowed an NFL-high 113 first downs -- no one else is in triple digits -- and not surprisingly NFL-highs in points, yards and passing yards.

It doesn't help that the Lions are aiming for takeaways while missing their two best ballhawks in Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch. The latter is a hell of a player who might be back this week, but Branch alone isn't fixing this wreck. The shame is that the defensive line, for the most part, has done its job. The Lions have generated good pressure rushing four, with Hutchinson, Alim McNeill and Tyleik Williams all playing well.

Everything else is just in disarray.

Campbell didn't offer the most convincing vote of confidence for Sheppard after Sunday night. Asked how much longer the defense can play like this before he has to consider a change at coordinator, he only said, "I'm not talking about all that, man." Does that mean he's starting to think about it? Campbell has always backed his embattled defensive coordinators, from Aaron Glenn over his first couple seasons to Sheppard just last month. His response after Sunday night's debacle sounded like a deflection more than an endorsement.

"I’m talking about getting better, right now, with what we’ve got, and that’s what we’re going to do," Campbell said.

Hutchinson expressed "the utmost faith in" Sheppard after Sunday night's loss. But he also called the defense into question after its disastrous performance against the Bills in Week 2, wondering why the Lions struggled to stop so many simple concepts on the ground.

Hutchinson echoed himself Sunday night and said, "We definitely have to evolve as a defense and we have to grow, because we can’t keep putting our offense in these shootout-like games. It just puts stress on them. We just gotta do better as unit. Man, I think we all support Shep fully, and yeah, we gotta get a win next week."

If they don't -- and if the defense is once again a culprit -- Sheppard might not make it to the other side of the bye.