Chargers News: Expert Unpacks How Detroit OC Exploited Brandon Staley's Defense Last Week

Detroit did whatever they wanted against the Bolts last weekend.

Your Los Angeles Chargers' defense put up one of its worst games in recent memory last Sunday, during the club's 41-38 loss to the Detroit Lions. They gave up 533 yards to Detroit over the course of the game, and it was a poor showing all around.

No matter what the Chargers did, the Lions found different ways to attack them. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was ready for the Bolts, and he confused the coverage all game.

Execution was a big issue for the Chargers, but it was more in the schemes used by the Chargers. Head coach Brandon Staley took responsibility for what transpired in the game.

“It’s the execution of the technique and the fundamentals. Those are within our control, and we just need to do a better job of executing our assignment and our technique. If it was a scheme-related error, you would see us make adjustments that way.”

Per Daniel Popper of The Athletic

The Bolts couldn’t contain the Lions run game, giving up 200 yards on the ground to Detroit. The Lions did whatever they wanted to, and Los Angeles was at their mercy all game.

“A defense does not give up 41 points and 533 yards without execution mistakes from the players. For example, the Chargers missed multiple tackles on both of the Lions’ long runs — a 35-yard Jahmyr Gibbs rush in the first quarter and a 75-yard David Montgomery touchdown run in the second quarter.”

Per Daniel Popper of The Athletic

Detroit used multiple blocking schemes to make sure that they had an answer for each Chargers defender. And quarterback Jared Goff was ready for what LA was throwing at him, and he used it to their advantage with pre-snap adjustments.

The Lions kept the Bolts defense guessing all day, and they used different disguises to confuse the Chargers. They were the more physical team on the day as well, making the Chargers pay for their over-aggressiveness.

For almost the entire game, the Lions used prep-snap motion and alignments to beat the Chargers. It was an ugly game defensively for the Bolts, now 4-5. 

They'll need to turn things around quickly, otherwise, they will see themselves fall down even further in the AFC standings.

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