Lions represent perfect chance for Packers offense to get right

If the Green Bay Packers can’t score on this Detroit Lions defense, there may be no hope of scoring on anyone. The 2022 Lions defense, which just fired defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant, is so bad their statistical resume reads like a Don Rickles joke. For as disjointed as Aaron Rodgers and Co. have been this season, they finally have a chance to get right against a front that struggles to rush the passer, busts on the back end and has been historically bad preventing teams from scoring.

There are two parts to the “get-right” game. The first is the team has to be good enough to actually, successfully get right. Teams who stink generally don’t get right because there’s nothing to get … well, right. That’s not true for the Packers though more on that later.

This matchup is about the Lions defense that has been so bad, they make the next worst team look mediocre by comparison. Literally. Detroit has the worst defensive team in the league in EPA/play this year and the gap between the Lions at 32nd and 31st is bigger than between 31st and 18th. Detroit makes the second worst defense in the league look like just a mildly below-average defense.

And if you thought that was bad buckle up. The Lions are allowing 0.296 EPA/dropback this year. We haven’t acclimatized to EPA/play as a stat well enough for that number to mean something, so for comparison's sake, MVP Aaron Rodgers was at 0.259 EPA/play last year as the 2021 NFL MVP. In other words, Detroit’s defense this season has allowed the teams it faces to produce like an MVP quarterback.

That’s really, really bad.