An unrelenting string of injuries has pushed the Detroit Lions from presumptive Super Bowl favorite to most prognosticating a steep falloff.
Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn railed against the notion that the team is panicking after his defense lost two more key pieces in Alim McNeill (torn ACL) and Carlton Davis (fractured jaw).
"We're 12-2 and the sky's falling," Glenn said Thursday, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. "We're going to the playoffs. We're in the tournament. Why in the hell is the sky falling for us? What do we have to sit back and be sad? We let you guys do that."
Injuries have rocked Glenn's defense. McNeill and Davis are just the latest two, joining the likes of Aidan Hutchinson (broken leg), Marcus Davenport (torn triceps), Alex Anzalone (broken forearm) and Derrick Barnes (torn MCL). The Lions currently have 16 defensive players on injured reserve, the most in the NFL.
The injuries have left a once-stingy defense susceptible.
The Lions have allowed 30-plus points in each of their last two games after not allowing an opponent to reach the 30-point plateau in any of their first 12 games. Detroit allowed 197 rush yards in Week 15 to Buffalo, the most since Week 17, 2022, versus Chicago.
"I believe that we can be a damn good defense," a defiant Glenn said.
Glenn admitted it's a challenge to replace the trove of injured defenders, including its top two pressure producers in Hutchinson and McNeill -- the two players account for 28 percent of all Detroit's pressures this season. Levi Onwuzurike sits third on the team with 29 pressures behind McNeill (43) and Hutchinson (30), who hasn't played since Week 6.
"Our job is to go play football and that's what we're going to continue to do," the Lions DC said. "We lost one game. Well, two games. We lost two games. We have a chance to win out and accomplish everything that we want to accomplish, so why should we sit back and wallow and think the sky's falling? It's dumb."
Few cite Sunday's loss to Buffalo as a reason for pessimism in Detroit. It's the laundry list of injured players that has brought out the "bah humbug." Glenn and coach Dan Campbell have set the tone this week, battling against the notion that the Lions' 2024 hopes are withering away on IR.
The best way to combat the belief: Roll over the four-win Bears on the road Sunday.
