Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard will wrap up his first year as an NFL coordinator on Sunday against the Chicago Bears, and it\u2019s fair to say the season hasn\u2019t gone as he had hoped. The Lions went from having the seventh-best scoring defense under Aaron Glenn last year (20.1 points per game) to the 23rd-ranked defense (24.8). Most concerning, however, was the fact that Detroit really struggled down the stretch when they needed the defense the most. They allowed an average of 30.2 points per game in the final six games of the season\u2014a stretch in which they finished 2-4.<\/p>\n
On Thursday during his final press conference of the season, Kelvin Sheppard was asked if the team needed to make any drastic changes to his scheme in 2026. Unsurprisingly, Sheppard stood by his scheme\u2014noting that his strategy and philosophy are already not grounded in rigid rules or play styles.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I don\u2019t see drastic change [\u2026] This league is about adaptability. And you can have a system all you want, but it\u2019s whatever dictates that week is necessary to win the football game,\u201d Sheppard said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s predicated on a lot of different variables. You talk about the offense that you\u2019re facing, you\u2019re talking about the personnel that\u2019s at your disposal that week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of different variables and my job has been\u2014and I believe we have done as a defensive staff\u2014week-to-week what is it going to take to stop this offense. And more importantly, what is it going to take for us to play complementary football and win this football game. I believe we have a very versatile system here where we\u2019re able to adapt and adjust on the run. And I believe that not only myself, but my staff and these players have done a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, Sheppard isn\u2019t oblivious to the struggles on the defensive side of the ball. What has particularly been concerning to him has been the explosive plays given up by the team\u2019s defense all year. No team has allowed more 30+ yard plays than the Lions all season, and that will be first on Sheppard\u2019s list of things to figure out when he has time to do a full, comprehensive self-scout this offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing I\u2019m doing is pulling the explosives because that\u2019s been unacceptable this year,\u201d Sheppard said. \u201cWe\u2019re in the bottom tier of the league in that category and that is number one to playing at a high level on defense\u2014and offense\u2014is the explosive gains in the game and the ability to minimize them. So, that\u2019s the number one. And then within that, what is the cause of it? And for me, I have different categories. Is it something schematically that took place where we\u2019re getting attacked schematically? OK. Is it lack of understanding of the system?\u201d<\/p>\n
As for what he\u2019s learned this year on his first year on the job, he admits that it took him a while to get a hand of the flow of the game and make in-game adjustments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe things that I truly learned, to be honest with you, is in the flow of a game, in having to adjust on the run. Like say you\u2019re going to the game and, \u2018This is what we\u2019re doing.\u2019 Well, you can\u2019t be hard-headed. If you get in that game and that\u2019s not working, then what? You get to have time and kind of things aren\u2019t going the way you like, then what? And that\u2019s kind of what I\u2019ve learned and the ability to go articulate that to the players so they understand me. Not that we\u2019re changing, but why we\u2019re changing and how we need them to change as the game progresses. Kind of in-game adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n