The Detroit Lions defense had major question marks entering the 2026 NFL season. Those concerns about the Lions secondary showed up in Sunday’s 31-30 overtime win against the New Orleans Saints. Despite holding a 21-0 lead, Detroit made things harder on itself than it needed to be.

Chris Olave Had His Way With the Lions Secondary

Tyler Shough completed 62.5% of his passes for 410 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. One of the players the Lions had a hard time covering was New Orleans wide receiver Chris Olave. He caught 10 passes for 182 receiving yards on 13 targets, an average of 18.2 yards per catch. Olave did not have a touchdown, but the yardage was a career high.

After the game, Lions head coach Dan Campbell addressed the issues in the secondary for this football team.

Dan Campbell Comments About the Lions Secondary

Campbell spoke to the media after the game, and he did not sound worried. Asked whether Shough picking apart the defense was a cause for concern in the secondary, Campbell said in his postgame press conference, as relayed by Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit: “Well, no, I’m not concerned. I don’t know if concern is the right word. There are things we need to tighten up on mentally.”

Short Week Before Josh Allen and the Bills

The Lions have a short amount of time between now and Thursday to fix things. Detroit will face a Josh Allen-led Buffalo Bills team on the road on Thursday night. The Bills just scored 36 points on the road against the Houston Texans. If the Lions want to win in Week 2 on the road on a short week, there are a lot of things that need to be cleaned up in the secondary and the defense overall.