How do the Detroit Lions take another step forward in Week 3?

Week 2 brought the Detroit Lions their first loss of the 2024 NFL season, but after a week of working through why the loss felt as disappointing as it did, I've arrived at this conclusion: it was self-inflicted.

The Lions offense was the aspect of this team that everyone felt confident about performing consistently. Mega contracts for Penei Sewell, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Jared Goff represented Detroit's reward for shrewd drafting—and their conviction in Goff's ability to lead the offense.

The confidence in those decisions shouldn't be shaken after just two weeks, but it's disappointing, nonetheless, to see this offense fail to deliver when and where it counted—especially in a game where Detroit's defense continued to hint this could be an above average unit in every respect for the first time in the Dan Campbell era.

So for Thursday's Question of the Day, we revisit this kind of question...

How do the Detroit Lions take a step forward in Week 3? It's too easy—and far too obvious—to say something like, "Improve the red zone offense." Of course, the Lions need to do that—and likely will—in order to meet their expectations for this season. Jared Goff needs to execute better, that's a given, but this can't be all on him.

Detroit is going to take a step forward if Ben Johnson keeps the offense more balanced in Week 3.

Goff shouldn't be throwing the ball 55 times unless we're seeing a game get into overtime. The running game should be at the forefront of their offense because that's how they remind teams how annoying and frustrating it can be to play a team that can sustain a 13-play drive with the best of them. It requires a certain level of physicality that's tough to replicate week after week. Running the football for 17 weeks just to get to the playoffs sounds exhausting. It starts to hurt as I read it back to myself. In practice, it's just not realistic to expect the Lions to lean on it too heavy unless they absolutely need to—see: Week 1, OT.

And there doesn't need to be an overreaction to underutilizing someone on offense. St. Brown's lack of involvement in Week 1 led to him getting 19 targets the following week. Detroit turned to David Montgomery 19 times and on six of eight plays in overtime against the Rams. He had just 11 carries against the Buccaneers. Two overcorrections don't make a right.

So it's not all on Goff, it's not just running the ball 45 times, and it's not necessary to get Sam LaPorta 11 targets this week. It's an attention to balance that will help the Lions' offense get back to behaving like itself. Detroit's defense looks like it has all the makings of a top-10 group this year, and that's enough to leave even the most disappointed through Week 2 feeling optimistic about the Lions if they can put it together on offense.

Your turn.