One Major Reason For Lions Optimism Remainder of 2025 Season

Lions may need to lean on their defense, which is getting healthier.

Detroit Lions cornerback Amik Robertson (21) defends Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith (6) | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions Super Bowl hopes took a significant hit after they failed to execute well and lost to the Philadelphia Eagles on the road.

Losing always stings, but when a clear weakness has been exposed, it is clear to see opposing defenses are looking to exploit Detroit's battered offensive line.

Down the stretch, Dan Campbell's squad must solve the growing questions about their offense against upper echelon opponents, but there is a growing reason for optimisim down the stretch.

Detroit currently sits in third place in the NFC North, but a major reason for optimis the team can still win the division is their strength of schedule is far easier than the Packers and Bears.

Sports Illustrated recently ranked each NFC contending team's remaning strength of schedule, based on their opponents’ combined win percentages.

The Packers (.592) and Bears (.592) are tied for the toughest remaining strength of schedule, while Detroit ranks fourth (.535) among the 10 teams in serious contention in the NFC.

As Sports Illustrated explained, "It feels hard to believe, but with a loss to the Eagles on Sunday, the Lions have temporarily fallen out of the playoff picture and currently are the eighth seed. Detroit is still 6-4 and in the thick of the NFC North race, but winning the remainder of their divisional matchups will be critical for them to try to win the division again.

"As of now, the NFC North once again appears to be the most competitive division down the stretch. This leaves little room for error for Detroit going forward."

Another reason for optimism, but has yet to be seen on the field, is a growing number of injured players, on the defensive side, are returning to action in the coming weeks.

It is reasonable, given how Kelvin Sheppard's unit has played, that the 2025 Lions are actually a defensive team, needing their offense to pull their weight down the stretch.

"I think our front seven and our backend is sticky, man, rush and coverage, we stop the run, we have the right balance over there. Shep's doing a hell of a job, that whole defensive staff," Campbell explained on 97.1 The Ticket. "We can stop the run, we can cover backs, tight ends, we can cover their receivers, and we can make it a hard, long day for them over there."

Against the Eagles, the offense seemed just a little off, with Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown not being able to get on the same page and performing far below expectations.

"Sometimes if things aren't on with one player or another, the other player or the other players can pick up the slack a little bit and maybe it goes unnoticed or the play still gets made and we're all excited because it was a huge play. But when everything is just off a little bit -- from that, to the pressures that are there, or the precision of the routes, the depth, the technique, to my play calls -- then, man, it doesn’t help. And it becomes the perfect storm. We were a little off and just couldn’t ever really find it, find that true balance."