DeAndre Levy to undergo surgery; season status uncertain

The return of DeAndre Levy was expected to help cure several of the ailments suffered by the Lions defense. It was immediately clear as early as the preseason that the unit suffered from the absence of the star linebacker. However, during Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals, Levy left after 17 snaps and didn't return.

Now it appears that the Lions may be missing him again.

During a Wednesday press conference, head coach Jim Caldwell announced that DeAndre Levy had re-aggravated the strain on his hip on Sunday and the injury would require Levy to undergo surgery. Caldwell said that the Lions had consulted with the team doctors and received additional opinions from other medical sources that surgery would be the best course of action.

#Lions Jim Caldwell says Levy will have surgery shortly after discussion with doctors. Had missed first 4 games with hip injury.

— Paula Pasche (@paulapasche) October 14, 2015

The decision to place Levy on the injured reserve list has not been made yet, but doing so would likely spell the end to the linebacker's 2015 NFL season. Caldwell was asked if he would've used the short-term IR designation on Levy if Alex Carter had not been already given the designation, but he refused to answer.

The injury comes at a time where the Lions defense has been ranked #25 in the league by Football Outsiders, #26 in passing defense and #23 in rushing. Levy will almost certainly be ruled out for Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears.

Naturally, this is an opportune time to point out that the Fearless Leader of Pride Of Detroit, Jeremy Reisman, proudly owns a DeAndre Levy jersey and has been known to inadvertently curse the associated players when he wears these jerseys. He accepted responsibility for this disaster Wednesday on Twitter.