The 5 Biggest Disappointments of the Detroit Lions Through 4 Weeks

The 2012 NFL season in 25 percent over and the Detroit Lions have plenty of reasons to be disappointed by their play. They are 1-3 and realistically should be winless at this point in the season. There is almost nothing they have done on the field that can be looked at as positive, and the start to the 2012 season has been an absolute disaster.

The Lions have been flat for four weeks now, from offense to defense and on special teams. They look like a team that has grown complacent. They look like a team that simply expects to win games in comeback fashion, but it’s not that easy in the NFL and they will continue to lose games when they come out of the tunnel unprepared to play.

They continue to get down in games by substantial margins and they put themselves in situations where they can’t get all the way back. There are only so many comebacks an NFL team can make and the Lions continue to push the envelope on a weekly basis.

There are many things to be disappointed by when it comes to their play on the field, and there are more questions now than there were to start the season. The Lions were supposed to be strong in certain areas, and some of those areas have been incredibly weak through the first quarter of the season.

Let’s look at the most disappointing aspects of the Lions season through the first four weeks.

A Special Teams Disaster

The Lions have given up multiple touchdowns returns in back to back weeks, and their special teams play is killing them. The Lions resorted to kicking the ball short against the Vikings to keep the ball out of Percy Harvin’s hands. They have resorted to conceding yardage because of their inability to cover kicks.

The Lions were decent through the first two weeks. They did not allow a significant return to either the St. Louis Rams or the San Francisco 49’ers.

They faced the Tennessee Titans in Week 3 and the special teams unit imploded. They gave up a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown at the end of the first quarter. They also gave up a 105-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

In Week 4, they faced the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions kicked off the football to start the game, and Percy Harvin returned it for a 105-yard touchdown. They responded to that monster kickoff return by kicking the ball short to prevent another back-breaking play.

Shortly into the third quarter the Lions punted the ball to the Vikings and they returned the ball for a 77-yard touchdown. Multiple players missed tackles and the Vikings took advantage of the Lions special teams weaknesses. They won the game because the Lions can’t cover kickoffs and punts.

The special teams issue is enormous, and it will cause more losses if the Lions don’t address the problems. The problems are significant enough to warrant a scheme change and possibly a coaching change.

The Lions won’t win any football games of they continue to give up touchdowns in this area of the game.

The Defensive Line Is All Hype

The Detroit Lions defensive line was supposed to be the strength of this football team. It was supposed to be a mean, nasty unit that would dominate games and instill fear into each and every offense it lined up against, but that is not happening and the Lions’ defensive line looks nothing like a dominant unit on any level.

The defensive line's woes might be the hardest to see coming of all of the Lions problems to this point in the season. This was a feared unit that has simply not shown up in 2012. It is not making plays in the opponent’s backfield, and it doesn’t look to be doing anything noteworthy from a physical perspective.

The defensive ends are not getting to the quarterback, and the interior of the defense is not making plays. They are doing nothing that would lead anyone to believe that they are physically superior to other defensive lines in the NFL. They certainly haven’t dominated anybody, and they are not altering games with their aggressive play.

Where has the defensive line gone? It has disappeared and has become a unit that is all hype. It is easy to see the Lions with a 1-3 record after seeing how weak the strength of the team has played, because they have done almost nothing in 2012.

The Lions defensive line needs to get back to its nasty ways, or the 2012 season is going to slip away before it really has started. The bye week comes at a great time for the Lions to address their problems, and it starts with the defensive line.

They have been an enormous disappointment through four weeks. There is no fire or nastiness, and they look weak, slow and lacking any desire to win each play physically. This is not the defensive line the Lions sold to everyone and nowhere near what it was supposed to be.

The Lions Can't Catch the Ball

The Detroit Lions have a case of the drops, but no player more than tight end Brandon Pettigrew. The Lions drop too many passes, and they drop them at critical points in games. The drops are seriously holding the passing game back.

Pettigrew dropped a touchdown pass that would have cut into the Vikings lead. The Lions were down 13-3 in the second quarter, and Stafford had just hit wide receiver Calvin Johnson with a perfect pass that was broken up by the defense. As Johnson was coming down with the ball, two defenders sandwiched him, and the ball came loose.

On the next play, Pettigrew emerged wide open at the back of the end zone and Stafford hit him in both hands. Pettigrew dropped the ball and the Lions and the Lions settled for another red-zone field goal. There are some unknowns here, but a touchdown catch at that point certainly helps the Lions to get back into the game.

In Week 4, there were many drops. Titus Young, Calvin Johnson, Nate Burleson and Brandon Pettigrew all dropped passes. No drop hurt as much as the Pettigrew drop. Unfortunately, his drops have become all too common.

Pettigrew could be one of the game's best tight ends, but until he becomes more sure-handed he is nothing more than an average player with a 50/50 shot at catching the ball. The Lions need more from their receivers and the drops have to stop.

The Offense Has Become Complacent

The Detroit Lions had an extremely potent offense in 2011, and they were expected to be a powerhouse again in 2012. It hasn’t happened, and the Lions have become a stagnant, lifeless group on offense.

They are trying to establish the run by consistently running the ball on first down, and it is killing the flow of the offense. The Lions can’t run the ball and a short gain on first down puts the team into 2nd-and-long where the defense can pin its ears back because they know a passing play is coming.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford looks to be overconfident in his abilities to deliver the ball into tight windows all over the field. He is passing up easier throws to try and make the longer, more difficult ones, and the Lions are paying the price.

Stafford has been good, but the offense looks lifeless at times, sometimes for whole games. It looks like it needs a jolt of caffeine to get it started in games because it is not ready to play in the first quarter.

The Lions can’t get down in every game they play and expect to come back, not in this NFL. Every team is strong enough to beat any other team on Sunday, and the teams that don’t perform well often come up short.

The passing game is No. 1 in the NFL with 322 yards per game through four weeks, but this stat is elusive as it has racked up a ton of yardage late in games and in garbage time. The Lions have become a complacent team that expects to come back and win games because they are the Lions.

They expect great things to happen, but they have not come out of the tunnel ready to play. They are a mess on offense right now, and the whole thing needs to get simpler, starting with Stafford. The Lions can’t afford to lose any more games that they should be winning, and they need to put the ball into the end zone much more than they have through four weeks.

Stafford was a star quarterback in 2011, but he has been pretty average in 2012. The drops hurt, but if this team wants to string a few wins together, it needs Stafford to play much better.

The Play Calling Is Awful

Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan has had a pretty awful start to the 2012 season as he continues to call plays that confound anyone watching the game. When the Lions open up the offense and throw the ball to wide receiver Calvin Johnson, they go up and down the field.

When they get into the red zone, they become far too conservative and run the ball on first down for a short gain or a loss. This puts them into an obvious passing situation where the defense can drop multiple guys into coverage, and they can send their defensive ends who outmatch the Lions’ tackles.

It has become uncomfortable to watch what they are doing offensively. Early in games, they refuse to throw the ball to the game's most dangerous player. They want to take what the defense is giving them, but that is an excuse for not attacking the defense.

The Lions were efficient running the ball last year when the passing game was unstoppable. This year, the Lions have gone away from that powerful passing game because they want to establish the run, and it is stifling the passing attack.

The Lions need to use their bye week to try to find what they were last year. That was a team that could score on any offensive play they ran, and this year the offense could not be any different.

Linehan needs to get back to calling plays that work to the strength of the team, not playing to its own weaknesses. Linehan is calling very predictable plays and the defense knows what is coming at them.

In the red zone, the Lions should throw the ball to Calvin Johnson, even if the coverage tells them not to. Johnson can make a play where most others can’t and the Lions need to give him that chance. They have gotten stagnant, and their offense needs something more than a pressured throw to the back of the end zone.

The Lions offense is a tremendously powerful unit, but it is still asleep through four weeks. It needs to wake up. Perhaps the bye week comes at a highly opportune time for the Lions to remedy their offensive woes.