These numbers define the 2025 Lions' shortcomings

Richard Silva, The Detroit News on Dec 28, 2025

Published in Football

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You can point to any number of reasons as an explanation, but everyone who watched can agree on one thing: The 2025 Detroit Lions fell way short of expectations.

The Lions entered 2025 with hopes of winning the Super Bowl. Were they the favorites? No, not after losing two coordinators and an All-Pro center in the offseason. But there was reason for optimism, with 18 offensive and defensive starters returning to the roster following a 15-win campaign the year prior. Run it back, some thought, and the Lions could get over the hump.

Instead, the Lions won't win more than nine games this season, and they're mathematically eliminated from the playoffs before the regular season's final week. There's still a game left to play — a visit to Chicago for a bout with Ben Johnson's Bears awaits — but, at this point, it's nothing more than an exercise in pride.

Here are a few numbers and statistics that define Detroit's underperformance in 2025, as we try to make sense of a lost season.

Time to pressure

Only three teams in the NFL — the Denver Broncos (4.0), Atlanta Falcons (3.3) and Cleveland Browns (3.3) — entered Sunday averaging more sacks per game than the Lions (3.0), who on Christmas brought down Minnesota's Max Brosmer seven times. Four of those sacks against Brosmer came from defensive ends Aidan Hutchinson and Al-Quadin Muhammad. Those two became the first Lions to each finish with 10 or more sacks in the same season since Doug English and William Gay in 1983.

Peel back the onion, though, and you'll reveal some inconsistencies regarding Detroit's pass rush. Firstly, 38 of the Lions' 48 sacks through Week 17 have come in eight games, leaving just 10 for the other half of the season. That included a four-week stretch in November when the Lions produced only four sacks, and one of those came in overtime.

Also to be considered: It's taken the Lions an average of 2.86 seconds to pressure opposing quarterbacks this season, according to Next Gen Stats. That's the fourth-slowest time in the NFL, behind the Chicago Bears (2.89), Cincinnati Bengals (2.88) and Buffalo Bills (2.88). Each of those other teams rank in the bottom half of the league in sacks. The Lions have benefitted from some creative and effective blitzes in 2025 — linebackers Jack Campbell, Derrick Barnes and Alex Anzalone have combined for 11½ sacks — but the defensive line, outside of Hutchinson and Muhammad, didn't perform to the level that 48 sacks would suggest.

Explosive plays

The Lions have allowed 56 completions of at least 20 yards this season, more than anyone not named the Baltimore Ravens (61) or Bengals (57). The secondary has justifiably taken heat for Detroit's struggles in limiting explosive gains — since Week 12, cornerbacks Amik Robertson (445) and D.J. Reed (336) rank last and third-to-last, respectively, in passing yards surrendered while in coverage — but the pass rush also holds plenty of blame.

Opposing targets on passing plays are averaging 2.9 yards of separation against the Lions, the smallest amount in the NFL. Put another way: Detroit's defensive backs have often found themselves in tight coverage, but they haven't been able to finish the play.

Quarterbacks have had an average time to throw of 2.91 seconds against the Lions, third-longest in the NFL. The secondary hasn't played particularly well, but it's not exactly getting torched on down-to-down basis. The problem is the Lions haven't been able to successfully marry their rush and coverage, as Dan Campbell so often harps on being important.

Seven duds

Against porous run defenses, the Lions have excelled. Against more stingy units, the Lions have struggled.

That's the long and short of it.

The Lions have rushed for fewer than 100 yards in seven games this season, all resulting in a loss. They only had four of those outings (less than 100 rushing yards) in 2023 and 2024 combined, and they haven't had seven in a season since Campbell's first year as head coach, when D'Andre Swift led the team with 617 yards.

Part of the issue is that the Lions could never find the best way to split carries between running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. Some of that has had to do with game flow — Montgomery was a force in 2024 because the Lions led in so many more games, making him the perfect option to bleed clock — but his role was reduced, regardless.

From a standpoint of efficiency, Montgomery had an Expected Points Added (EPA) per rush better than Gibbs in 10 games this season, and his average per carry in those same 10 contests was better, too. That's not to say Montgomery is better than Gibbs (put bluntly, he isn't), but he was at times the better option; in losses this season, Montgomery's EPA/rush (-0.03) and yards/rush (3.6) were higher than Gibbs' marks in both categories (-0.14 and 2.9, respectively).

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