Lions report card: Perfect offensive performance masks serious defensive issues

Handing out grades from the Lions’ performance over the 49ers in their 40-34 win.

The Detroit Lions escaped San Francisco with a 40-34 win over the 49ers , and maybe more importantly, escaped with their relative health. Let’s break down their overall performance with our Week 17 report card.

Quarterback: A+

I’m running out of things to say about Jared Goff. It seems every week he puts up a performance that challenges for “best Lions performance in his career.” I can really only think of two mistakes in the 49ers game: on Detroit’s failed fourth down conversion, his throw was late and behind Sam LaPorta, and he took a bad sack that nearly pushed the Lions out of field goal range.

Other than that, Goff was stellar. His accuracy was on point, his decision making was flawless, and that drive to begin the second half was one of his best ever. He dropped a few dimes on that series.

I’ll leave you with this stat on Goff:

Running backs: A

Jahmyr Gibbs continues to show that he’s capable of being a No. 1 running back in this league. Not 1A or 1B, just the main guy. Against the 49ers, Gibbs turned 22 touches into 163 yards and a touchdown—over 37 percent of Detroit’s offensive production. Gibbs was electric with the ball in his hands, patient with his rushing lane reads, and, at times, tough to bring down.

But don’t sleep on the production from his teammates, either. Craig Reynolds (seven carries, 31 yards) and Jermar Jefferson (three carries, 9 yards) ground out some tough yards in short-yardage situations.

Tight ends: A+

On first live viewing, I thought this was Sam LaPorta’s best game of the season. Beyond his six catches for 64 yards and a touchdown—which were among his season bests—LaPorta was a monster out there as a blocker. He sprung several runs, including Jameson Williams’ rushing touchdown, where he combined with Brock Wright to set the edge perfectly.

And of LaPorta’s six catches, one was a touchdown, one was a fourth-down conversion, and two were third-down conversions. He was big-time on Monday.

Wide receivers: A

Jameson Williams had another big day with a pair of touchdowns. His hook-and-ladder touchdown was perfect execution from both Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown. The duo combined for 13 catches, 137 yards, and three total touchdowns. Even Allen Robinson got in on the fun with a key 21-yard catch.

Offensive line: A-

Hard to complain about a performance that includes 152 rushing yards (4.6 YPC), two rushing touchdowns, and just four quarterback hits on 36 dropbacks.

That said, Nick Bosa was a pretty big problem for Detroit. He had all four quarterback hits for the 49ers, including two sacks, seven pressures (per PFF), and one holding penalty forced.

He’s an outstanding football player, though. And the fact that the Lions held everyone else on that defensive line in check is a big win for an offensive line that has been relatively inconsistent this year.

Defensive line: F

Okay, now we gotta talk about the bad stuff. Against a 49ers offensive line that was patched together with chewing gum and scotch tape, the Lions defensive line simply didn’t show up. The only pressure the Lions were able to muster was via blitzing, and Detroit was also getting gashed in the ground game before San Francisco inexplicably went away from it in the second half. The one sack from the group (Myles Adams) was a clean-up sack forced by pressure from a blitzing linebacker.

• Za’Darius Smith had zero tackles and one QB hit
• Levi Onwuzurike: one tackle one QB hit
• Josh Paschal: one tackle
• DJ Reader: two tackles

That simply isn’t enough production out of your starting four.

Linebackers: F

The Lions’ linebacker issues continue to be the biggest problem on the defense right now. All game, the 49ers had them in a blender with play action and misdirection plays. The return of Jalen Reeves-Maybin didn’t make much of a difference, as he allowed a 41-yard catch to Isaac Guerendo, who ran right by him. And while Jack Campbell had a couple strong plays early in this game, he also bit hard on several play-actions, leading to big gains over the middle.

Guerendo, George Kittle, and Kyle Juszczyk combined for 13 catches, 186 yards and a touchdown. While that isn’t all on the linebackers, it largely was. This looked a lot like the Bills game, and if the Lions face any teams in the playoffs with strong receiving backs and tight ends, it’s going to be a serious concern for Detroit’s defense.

Defensive backs: C-

The Lions secondary was dealing with a lot of similar issues early in the game. Whether it was play-action throwing them off, or mesh concepts that resulted in Detroit’s man-coverage players running into each other, there were far too many 49ers receivers running wide-open. Ricky Pearsall, who split time between the slot and on the outside, finished with eight catches, 141 yards, and a touchdown.

But credit where credit is due. The Lions seemed to settle down a bit in the second half. It still wasn’t good enough, but on one drive, they helped force three straight incompletions, which led to a missed field goal. And then, of course, we have to talk about Kerby Joseph’s big night. While his first interception was more of a gift from Brock Purdy, his second pick was a perfect display of Joseph’s instincts and athleticism.

I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that those two picks from Joseph won them the game.

Special teams: B-

It was a very up-and-down game from the special teams unit. They had an extra point blocked and Jake Bates missed another one. However, Bates outdueled 49ers kicker Jake Moody by making a 42-yard kick and a 57-yard kick (Moody missed an extra point and kicks from 58 and 51).

Kickoff coverage teams weren’t great, as Deebo Samuel averaged 32.0 yards on four returns, but Tom Kennedy was actually decent, too, with a 28.7 average.

Coaching: A-

Like it or hate, the Lions played their starters against the 49ers. And while I may have taken a more conservative approach there, I respect his decision, and I think this is as good of a rationale as any:

“I just don’t believe it’s fair to put in a guy that’s not prepared to play, especially a young player,” Campbell said.

(You can read his full explanation here .)

In short: it’s not easy to prepare all week with your starters only to change course at the last minute.

As for the in-game decisions, you have to give Campbell credit for his aggressive approach on fourth down again. Detroit went for it three times, and by Ben Baldwin’s analytical Fourth Down Bot, all of them were the right decisions.

Here’s what happened as a result of those fourth-down attempts:

• Attempt 1: Failed conversion, missed out on short FG (-3 points)
• Attempt 2: Touchdown over field goal (+4 points)
• Attempt 3: Conversion, moved into field goal range over a punt (+3 points)

That’s, in my opinion, four bonus points earned by Campbell’s decision, which was key in a game as close as this one.

Elsewhere, Ben Johnson continues to show why he’s the best offensive mind in football. And while the defense struggled mightily, I’m not sure how much of that can be put on coaching. The game plan wasn’t necessarily bad, but it is concerning that Detroit is continually getting gashed by offenses exploiting their linebackers. Good coordinators mask their biggest deficiencies, and Glenn hasn’t been able to do that over the past month.