How Michigan Football is similar to the Detroit Lions
When Michigan football started this offseason by purging a lot of the coaching staff in order to make a much-needed change, it reminded me of a local professional sports team who was going through a similar process: The Detroit Lions.
The Detroit Lions defense was terrible last season, the worst in the NFL in fact. They had a lot of issues, but a few of their worst issues was the lack of a pass rush, a lack of created turnovers, and an inability to get off the field in crucial situations.
Michigan football’s 2020 defense was eerily similar to a lot of the 2020 Lion’s worst tendencies with their defense last season as well.
No, Michigan football’s defense wasn’t last-in-the-FBS bad, but for us fans, it felt like it was last place bad. This does not even include the staff moves that were made between both football squads. Both squads had terrible records, with Michigan going 2-4 and the Lions going 5-11.
Michigan football’s situation on defense
For Michigan football last season, the defensive coordinator was Don “Dr. Blitz” Brown. As his nickname reveals, he was known for his aggressive, attacking defense. He mixed in a lot of different schemes and looks, with the “viper” linebacker position being the focal point of the defense.
Unfortunately, pretty much every year, Don Brown’s defensive ranking got worse and worse. In 2016 (his first year on the job) UM football’s defense finished second in the nation. In 2017, Michigan’s defense finished third.
In 2018 (his best statistical year) the defense finished first in the nation. In 2019, the defense finished sixth. Lastly, in 2020, the defense fell off a cliff and finished 89th. This caused him to get fired after the conclusion of the 2020 campaign.
Don Brown was known as a defensive “guru” or genius, however, you want to call it. This was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because Don Brown had a lot of knowledge of the game, and it showed up in his defenses (for the most part).
It was also a curse because there were times when his uber-aggressive defenses would backfire on him. It was almost always against elite offenses. It was at this point where the “genius” side of his personality took over and he became a know-it-all.
He became stubborn and didn’t want to change his defense. This was most clear against OSU in 2018. Those crossing routes killed Michigan in that game.
Don Brown didn’t actually change the look of the defense in that game. It was very obvious that Michigan should have gone with a zone look instead of man-to-man at that point, but Don didn’t change the defensive outlook.
All he did was put some different corners and safeties on OSU’s faster receivers until it was too late.