After former coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn left Detroit to take head coaching gigs this offseason, the Lions brought back John Morton (a former Lions assistant) and promoted Kelvin Sheppard to try to maintain some stability.
While the Week 1 performance in a loss to the Packers probably won’t be totally representative of how Detroit will play all season, I think it’s appropriate to keep on eye on whether this staff is adaptable and can move on from the things that aren’t working. Detroit’s secondary struggled in tight coverage against Green Bay’s receivers, and the offense couldn’t find any rhythm in the run game—two things that almost never happened in the last two seasons.
The Lions’ place near the top of the NFC over the past couple years wasn’t just because of talent, it was because they were better prepared than their opponents—and that wasn’t the case on Sunday.