Detroit Lions player stock: Who’s up and who’s down after Week 4 loss

Detroit Lions players whose stock is trending down.

Linebackers

A week after an outstanding performance against the Ravens run game, the Lions could not stop the run at all in Chicago. The Bears rushed for 188 yards on a 4.8 yards per carry. Even after David Montogmery went down, Damien Williams continued to gash the defense.

The defensive line played pretty well: Michael Brockers made some excellent plays in the backfield, and Alim McNeil was good against the run as well. Unfortunately, the poor linebackers poor play made all of their efforts in vain.

The linebackers will need to be better in their run fits, especially on outside runs. On the bright side, they played well in the passing game, limiting Cole Kmet to only 6 yards receiving. The linebackers are still the weakness of this defense and will need to continue to step their game up.

Bobby Price

Bobby Price was placed in an impossible position after switching from safety to corner in August and then thrust into the starting spot after Jeffrey Okudah’s Achilles injury. He performed well the first couple of games, given the circumstances besides a mental error on the Ravens’ 4th and 19.

This week was a different story. The Bears targeted him early and often hitting Darnell Mooney for 125 yards throughout the game. It is not Price’s fault by any means, as he is still incredibly raw on a different team; he wouldn’t be forced into a starting spot so early.

It may be time to give Jerry Jacobs a try at outside corner or maybe looking to a veteran option like Quinton Dunbar. Price has a good chance to become a solid corner in the league, especially with his physical gifts, but being so new to the position, it might be best for his development to learn on the practice field instead of potentially ruining his confidence on Sundays.

This Lions game was a tough one. The Bears really did not do anything great to win the game, but the Lions continued to get in their own way to give up the game. Jared Goff and the rest of the offense will need to clean up the turnovers and find ways to score in the red zone.

The defense could struggle in the next couple of weeks with the injury to their best player, Romeo Okwara. The inside and outside linebackers will especially need to step up in the run game and finding ways to get to their passer without Okwara and potentially Flowers.

This Vikings game will be a good barometer for the coaching staff to see if they can rally the troops and play a competitive four quarters in Minnesota.