Three and Out: Defense's discipline disappears, Joseph could require Decker's plan, and an item for '26 shopping list
Kansas City, Mo. — Here are three observations after a second viewing and a night to ponder the Detroit Lions’ 30-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Disappearing act for defensive discipline
Something that’s stood out about Detroit’s early-season defensive performance has been the unit’s discipline. It’s never perfect, and coordinator Kelvin Sheppard will be the first to tell you his group has had an occasional coverage bust as it navigates giving the players more control to make checks and adjustments to play calls. Regardless, the defense has been fundamentally sound and came into Sunday’s contest having among the fewest missed tackles in the league.
That went out the window against the Chiefs, who benefitted from a steady stream of errors by the Lions, most of which were unforced.
On the opening drive alone, the Lions missed three tackles, defensive end Aidan Hutchinson failed to set an edge against the run, and Amik Robertson took his eyes off his assignment just long enough that he whiffed on a jam attempt, resulting in a clean release on the scoring catch.
By conceding a touchdown on Kansas City’s opening possession, Detroit has now allowed the opposition to translate their first series into six points in five of six games.
The defense had several costly miscues throughout the contest. Hutchinson allowed Mahomes to spin free of a sack, Rock Ya-Sin got overly grabby on a third-and-long deep shot, resulting in a defensive pass interference, and the group got busted during a lazy substitution, resulting in the Chiefs snapping it quick, drawing a flag for too many men on the field, while they picked up a first down in the free-play chaos.
The rancid cherry on top of Sunday’s sundae was a string of mistakes during the possession after the offense trimmed the deficit to three in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. Had the defense managed a subsequent stop, it was still anybody’s game. Instead, Hutchinson waylayed Mahomes after he got rid of the ball, drawing a flag for unnecessary roughness. A few plays later, Brian Branch whiffed on a tackle. And the caboose on the error train was a coverage bust, where the patchwork secondary failed to navigate a switch on a rub route, resulting in Hollywood Brown coming open on a crosser for the touchdown that proved to be the dagger.