The seat is heating up for Detroit Lions’ defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who finds himself in a challenging position due to his defense’s inability to prevent mobile quarterbacks from shining in the NFL. This challenge is something that plagues the entire football team and has accounted for multiple losses in 2023 as well as last season.

After starting the season 5-1, the red hot Lions visited the Baltimore Ravens in week seven and were defeated in a dominating fashion 38-6. It was at this moment that analysts and the fans of the team took to social media to voice their opinions on Glenn and his struggles with mobile signal-callers.

In that week seven matchup, former NFL MVP Lamar Jackson had rushed on 9 attempts for 36 yards and a touchdown. If you look at just pure statistics, you could say that Glenn’s defense did their job and succeeded — but you would be wrong. The gameplan was to prevent Jackson from making plays in the rushing game but there were times in the matchup where the defense over-pursued and were placed out of position, resulting in easy checkdowns for yards after the catch.

Gus Edwards in the third quarter took a simple checkdown all the way for an 80-yard catch and run. One of the staples in Todd Monken’s offense is running quarterback stretch to give Jackson the ability to make plays with his feet. On the play below, the Lions believed they were about to stop the quarterback stretch, but the players not all being on the same page and doing their responsibilities proved costly.

Channeling @GodsGiftGus13 energy this AM

Back in action Sunday at 4:25 on CBS! pic.twitter.com/kqHkttTcJ8

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) October 23, 2023

Even though Jackson was held to under 40-yards rushing, he still managed to instill damage to the defense as the gameplan was to force him to pass the football and he did just that and more.

If you fast forward to week 11, the Lions defense had a tough task ahead of them with dual-threat quarterback Justin Fields. While Fields and the Bears were sitting at a 3-8 record, they fought the entire game and were up 26-14 in the fourth quarter before allowing 17-unanswered points en route to a 31-26 defeat.

While the Lions overcame the turnovers and found a way to win this contest, it was evident that they could not prevent Justin Fields’ dual-threat rushing ability. Fields finished the game with 18 carries for 104 yards with a long of 29 rushing yards. He accounted for the most rushing yards for the team and used his legs and forced the defense to be in tough situations.

It seems as if the Lions’ kryptonite is Justin Fields. This is the second time this season that he has performed well. Even though the first matchup was a loss, Fields utilized his talents on the ground and finished the week 14 game with 12 carries for 58 yards and a touchdown. This time the long rush was 19-yards, still not good enough for this defense. With Detroit being down 19-13 to start the fourth quarter, it was third-and-goal at the 11-yard line and the Lions allowed Fields to make them look incredibly undisciplined once again.

The Bears are BACK?? Yall didn’t believe me about Justin Fields…206 passing | 61 rushing | 2TD’s pic.twitter.com/fdLM7fBBEn

— Chase Daniel (@ChaseDaniel) December 10, 2023

Holding the Bears to three points at this moment in the game would be a win-win. While it is unsure if Glenn put his best defender, edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson on an inside stunt or if Hutch decided to lose outside contain on his own, one thing is for certain, this touchdown once again proves that Glenn’s defense struggles versus mobile quarterbacks in key situations in the game.

Fields finished the game with 223 passing yards, 58 rushing yards, and two total touchdowns. DJ Moore was a key difference maker and caught 9 receptions for 88 yards and two touchdowns; both were instrumental in the Lions’ week 14 defeat to the Bears.

Glenn’s Defense vs. Mobile QB’s Stats: 

2022 Season: 

Week 1 vs Eagles (38-35 Loss): 

Jalen Hurts: 18/32 for 243 Yards Passing | 17 Carries for 90 Yards and 1 TD, Long of 16 Yards

Week 4 vs Seahawks (48-45 Loss): 

Geno Smith: 23/30 for 320 Yards, 2 TDs | 7 Carries for 49 Yards and 1 TD, Long of 17 Yards

Week 10 at Chicago (31-30 Win): 

Justin Fields: 12/20 for 167 Yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT | 13 Carries for 147 Yards and 2 TDs, Long of 67 Yards

Week 12 vs Bills (28-25 Loss): 

Josh Allen: 24/42 for 253 Yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT | 10 Carries for 78 Yards and 1 TD, Long of 21 Yards

2023 Season: 

Week 7 at Ravens (38-6 Loss): 

Lamar Jackson: 33/53 for 284 Yards Passing, 3 TDs | 9 Carries for 36 Yards and 1 TD, Long of 10 Yards

Week 11 vs Bears (31-26 Win): 

Justin Fields: 16/23 for 169 Yards, 1 TD | 18 Carries for 104 Yards, Long of 29 Yards

Week 14 at Bears (28-13 Loss): 

Justin Fields: 19/33 for 223 Yards, 1 TD | 12 Carries for 58 Yards and 1 TD, Long of 19 Yards

Wrap Up:

It is inevitable that Glenn and his defense will struggle against mobile quarterbacks, a fact that becomes evident both by watching the games and analyzing the box score and statistics. The only statistic that is misleading is when Lamar Jackson in week seven only rushed for 36 yards and a touchdown. Despite these low numbers, his threat of running disrupted the defense, ultimately opening up the passing attack for simple route combinations and enabling their athletes to gain significant yards after the catch (YAC).

The Lions sit atop of the NFC North with an 9-4 record, but one thing is for certain — if they do not shore up their defense, it does not matter how many offensive points they score in the coming weeks. Glenn needs to get it done and allow the pass rushers to keep their outside contain, their linebackers must blitz efficiently and effectively, and the secondary needs to plaster on their receivers (when in man coverage) and not allow bad man-to-man techniques to plague the team, as seen in the recent case with Jerry Jacobs on Sunday. If these small changes can occur in the coming weeks, Detroit will be in much better shape heading into the playoffs.