Maakaron: Lions Cannot Allow QB Justin Fields to Shine

I know you are worrying about it.

You just haven't admitted it to yourself just yet.

After an enjoyable Saturday afternoon comprised of eating Middle Eastern food and catching up with a longtime friend, the news broke later on in the evening that the Chicago Bears starting quarterback for Week 4 would be Justin Fields.

After a disastrous performance against the Cleveland Browns, don't let your guard down. Fields is more than capable of righting the ship and executing at a high level against this Detroit Lions defense.

On how many occasions have "average" players looked like Hall of Famers playing the Lions.

Matt Flynn and Mitchell Trubisky still send the Lions Christmas cards annually, or at least they should.

Recall, Detroit did not choose to select a quarterback with its first-round pick in this year's NFL Draft.

Instead, it was left tackle Penei Sewell -- who turned into a right tackle for a second, but is briefly back at left tackle and will be a right tackle again eventually -- who Lions general manager Brad Holmes was banging his hands on a table for.

Supporters of the Lions have all too often seen players the organization has invested in struggle in their careers, while others drafted later end up leading their franchises to much greener pastures.

Case in point, quarterback Justin Herbert.

If Detroit did not invest in defensive back Jeff Okudah, who is now out for the 2021 season with an Achilles' injury, potentially the Lions' quarterback of the future would presently be in the pipeline.

Instead, Detroit is banking on Jared Goff to keep the seat warm until the scouting department finds the team's next signal-caller.

After another chaotic, frustrating and disappointing saga played out last week in a loss to the Ravens, supporters and myself cannot sit back and observe Fields torch the Lions.

Not today.

The Lions must learn from the Browns and take the opportunity to force Fields to look pedestrian.

A bonus would be if Sewell completely locked it down, protecting Goff's blind side in a blowout victory.

For Holmes and Co., a coming-out party by Fields would be the single worst event that could happen at this point in the retooling process.

Speculation regarding the merit of his first draft pick must be held at bay, at least for the time being.

Luckily, there could be some inclement weather that could alter the gameplan for both teams this afternoon in Chicago.

Importance of Lions' defense communicating

The theme this week at Detroit's Allen Park practice facility has been communication.

Dan Campbell called a timeout prior to the Baltimore Ravens' pivotal fourth-down play late in the game last week.

Unfortunately, miscommunication on the back-end resulted in Baltimore wideout Sammy Watkins being open and securing a large gain.

The emphasis this week at practice has been effectively using hand signals and the defense working together to improve the communication throughout the course of a game.

“I think it’s been really good. Everything that we talk about emphasizing has really shown up and you can hear it. You can hear the communication, you can see them talking, you can see the hand signals," Campbell said. "We do pre-practice walkthroughs, we do walkthroughs before practice. So, we have a pre-practice, pre-practice, then a pre-practice. It has, it’s really shown up. Now, do we still make mistakes? We do, but the point is, the emphasis, and it is, it was better. I thought yesterday was one of the best practices that we’ve had all year. I was encouraged. It was good.”

“You've got to get the whole back-end to be a part of it also, along with the linebackers, too," Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn explained this week. "You have to be able to mesh that communication. You've got to be able to mesh those hand signals, so you could operate correctly. That's one thing that we emphasized this week, and we've been emphasizing it from the beginning. ... I will say this, man, those guys are steadily improving."

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