The Detroit Lions' typically prolific offense was anything but in their Week 1 loss to their NFC North rivals, the Green Bay Packers. And on Monday, legendary Lions running back Barry Sanders had a clear message to the team following the disappointing season debut.
Detroit was stifled all night by the new look Packers defense with Micah Parsons in the fold, unable to generate the big plays that were a staple of the Detroit offense in past years when former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was calling the plays.
Ultimately, the Lions were able to get one offensive touchdown on the board late in the fourth quarter. But by the time they did, the game was already well in hand for the Packers.
Perhaps the most concerning part of the Lions offense in Week 1 was at Sanders' old position, the running back position, which has typically been great under Dan Campbell. Notably, both Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery were held to under 2.5 yards per carry, recording just 44 rushing yards combined on 20 attempts between the two.
It's hard to take many positives away from this Week 1 result for the Lions. And speaking with ESPN Lions reporter Eric Woodyard on Monday, Sanders didn't mince words about how he felt his former team played in the game.
"We all had high hopes," said Sanders. "Certainly looking at the past few seasons how we got off to a great start. Certainly last year. The Packers looked good, give them credit. They were already a great team. They added an Aiden Hutchinson to their team in the last few days. And it showed, with Micah Parsons coming over. That was a great move by them.
"How much of what we saw yesterday was just the excitement about having Micah there? I don't know, we'll see in the coming weeks. But just adding that kind of dynamic force to your team. We could see just how excited that stadium was yesterday. We just couldn't get anything going offensively. You just would never expect to see a Lions offense that hadn't made a touchdown in four quarters. But we know what we have going forward. It doesn't get much tougher than starting off at Lambeau Field. We've got to move on to the next one."
Most fans of the Lions shared Sanders' disappointment about the team's Week 1 performance. But a portion of the fanbase is perhaps more worried about the future of the team in 2025 than Sanders seems to be after the game.
While the Lions do clearly have the talent to compete again in the NFC, Week 1 served as a reality that maybe Ben Johnson meant more to the Lions offense than some were anticipating that he would.
So with that in mind, it will be interesting to see whether the Lions offense can rebound in another NFC North matchup in Week 2 against the Chicago Bears.
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