Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions finished 2025 at nine and eight, dead last in the NFC North, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2022 — a stunning fall after going fifteen and two a year ago. This was the year the empire cracked. Detroit ripped out to a five-and-two start and looked every bit the NFC contender. Then the ceiling caved in. After losing offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to the Bears and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to the Jets, the offense never found its rhythm under first-year coordinator John Morton, and a late three-game skid against the Rams, Steelers, and Vikings closed the window. The Christmas Day loss at Minnesota in Week 17 — six turnovers, Jared Goff under siege all day — was the dagger, and Dan Campbell graded his own season, quote, a freaking F. The Lions didn't just lose games in 2025. They got muffed.

The numbers tell the break-even story. Detroit averaged just under twenty-six points a game and gave up just under twenty-five — a margin barely above zero, which is why nine and eight felt about right. The offense posted a plus zero-point-one-seven passing expected points added per dropback — expected points added is how much each snap shifts your scoring odds, and plus zero-point-one-seven is genuinely good — but the ground game came in at minus zero-point-zero-four per carry, actively hurting them. Third down conversion rate was thirty-nine percent, red zone touchdown rate twenty-two percent, and the turnover math — fifteen giveaways against nineteen takeaways — was a modest plus four. The bigger story is variance: this team scored fifty-two against Chicago in Week 2, forty-four twice, and also hung just nine on Philadelphia in Week 11 and ten on Minnesota in Week 17. Boom or bust, all year.

Now let's talk about the passing offense. This was the engine — when it ran. The unit's total passing expected points added was plus one hundred and four — a genuinely elite figure and the single clearest reason Detroit was ever in contention. Goff threw for four thousand five hundred and sixty-four yards with thirty-four touchdowns against only eight interceptions, ripped off eighty explosive plays of twenty-plus yards, and posted a completion percentage over expected of plus two-point-nine, meaning he completed about three percent more passes than the average quarterback would have on the same throws. But thirty-nine sacks allowed is a lot, and that protection number got ugly late as the offensive line took injury hits. The avatar was Amon-Ra St. Brown — one hundred and seventeen catches, one thousand four hundred and one yards, eleven touchdowns, and a thirty-two percent target share — a true number-one who smashed it. With a clean pocket, Detroit was one of the best passing attacks in football. Without one, like that Week 17 disaster in Minnesota, everything fell apart.

Now let's dig into the rushing offense. This is where the muffed label fits. Total rushing expected points added was minus eighteen-point-seven, and per carry it was minus zero-point-zero-four — a net negative on the scoreboard despite the volume, and boom-or-bust all year. The Lions averaged one hundred and twenty-one rushing yards per game and punched in twenty-one rushing touchdowns, which sounds fine until you see the efficiency. The reason the raw numbers stayed respectable is one man: Jahmyr Gibbs, who went for one thousand two hundred and twenty-three yards on two hundred and forty-three carries with thirteen rushing touchdowns, plus seventy-seven catches for six hundred and sixteen yards. His best snap came in Week 7 against Tampa Bay — first and ten from their own twenty-two, Gibbs shot up the middle and didn't stop until he hit the end zone seventy-eight yards later, a plus six-point-two expected points added play that ended the game. Outside his home runs, though, this was a grind.

Next up, the pass defense. The unit posted a passing expected points added allowed of minus three-point-nine-five — for defense, negative is good, but minus four across seventeen games is roughly league average, not elite, and it trended down late as injuries mounted. They allowed two hundred and thirty-seven passing yards a game and thirty-one passing touchdowns, which is a lot. What kept this unit afloat was the pass rush: forty-nine sacks on the year, fueled by Aidan Hutchinson's career-best fourteen-and-a-half. Hutchinson also delivered the most violent defensive play of the season — Week 15 in Los Angeles, first quarter, he jumped a Matthew Stafford throw and rumbled fifty-eight yards the other way, a play worth nearly minus nine-and-a-half expected points for the Rams. Hutchinson smashed it. The problem was everything behind him: only nineteen takeaways all season, barely over one a game, and a thirty-seven percent third-down conversion rate allowed kept too many drives alive. Average, propped up by one superstar edge rusher.

And the run defense. Detroit allowed a per-carry rushing expected points added of minus zero-point-zero-one — dead neutral, steady floor, low ceiling. The Lions gave up one hundred and sixteen rushing yards per game and sixteen rushing touchdowns, a middling number, and the front got gashed late as defensive injuries piled up. As a unit, this was a hold-the-line group rather than a difference-maker, and when the pass defense wobbled there was no compensating force up front.