Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard isn't keen on talking his way off the hot seat. He'd rather his players show it on the field.
"Because at this point, all of it is lip service," Sheppard said on Thursday, via MLive. "Until it starts to show on Sunday, until the evidence starts to show up at the game, it's lip service. What we do here, bridging it to the game, it sounds good, but it's lip service.
"So, what I will say is we did not play well enough defensively to help this team win that football game Sunday night at Carolina."
Sheppard's defense has been horrific through four games.
The Lions own the second-worst scoring defense (31.8 PPG) in the NFL and have allowed a league-high 423.8 total yards per game -- the most YPG allowed by any team in a season since the 2012 Saints (440.1).
Detroit has allowed a touchdown on 40.5% of its opponents' possessions in 2026, the highest rate allowed by any team in a season since at least 2000, per NFL Research.
"There has to be real change," Sheppard told reporters. "There has to be real evidence of change, whether that's personnel-driven, whether that's some things -- whatever the case is, something has to change. Because coming out of training camp, this is far from where we thought we would be at and should be at, and I still do, standing here before you after a four-game sample size.
"So these things will get corrected. But within doing all that, during doom and gloom, it's easy to point at everybody, but also within this, 'Let's go. Let's go.' Because I do feel like we're right there at this wall right now. And banging on this wall, and I said there's gonna be a group of men that bust this m-f-er down. And some guys [are] probably gonna be with us, and some aren't."
Detroit's defensive front has actually been good early this season. The Lions rank second in the NFL with 75 QB pressures. Aidan Hutchinson sits second in the league with 28 QBP, and Alim McNeill's 15 ranks tied for fourth among defensive tackles.
The defensive front has caused havoc. The back seven has been a mess. The linebackers look lost. The secondary is a particularly decrepit brand of ineptitude.
Sheppard knows the issue isn't with the front.
"I told the D-line, 'It's a disservice what we've been doing to you all,'" Sheppard said. "I truly feel like this is the best D-line we've had in my six-year tenure here since I got here in 2021, and we haven't been complementing it well enough on the back end to see the results of it and be outright beneficiaries."
The pressure is ramping up for Sheppard, despite coach Dan Campbell dismissing the idea of moving on from the second-year defensive coordinator. Sheppard was put in a tough spot with Brad Holmes' lack of high-level additions to the secondary in the offseason. A DB crew that was clearly lacking in the summer is already on fumes after four weeks, praying Brian Branch returns from an Achilles injury and doesn't miss a beat.
Sheppard's Lions (2-2) take on the Cardinals (1-3) in Arizona on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET.
