Monday open thread: Do you feel better, worse or the same about the Lions after their loss to the Panthers?

Well, that wasn’t pretty. For 3.5 quarters the Detroit Lions were dominated on both sides of the ball by the Carolina Panthers. Detroit made a valiant effort at a comeback, but still came up short, 27-24.

Considering just how high expectations were for this team last week, it’s hard to view Sunday’s results as anything but a disappointment. Over 80 percent of experts—including all 10 of us here at Pride of Detroit—picked the Lions to win against the Panthers and some had Detroit as the No. 2 team in the NFL.

Sunday was a stark dose of reality for Lions fans. Bad weeks happen to every team in the NFL, but some of the problems that reared their ugly head on Sunday were issues that have plagued the team for some time.

So today’s Question of the Day is:

Do you feel better, worse or the same about the Lions after their 27-24 loss to the Panthers.

My answer: Obviously I feel a bit worse, but I don’t necessarily feel a ton worse.

The biggest concern coming from Sunday’s game is the pass defense. This is the second-consecutive home game in which the secondary got torched. Matt Ryan and Cam Newton combined to complete 73.6 percent of their passes against Detroit for a whopping 9.7 yards per attempt, a combined five touchdowns and a collective passer rating of 109.3. Detroit did pick off Matt Ryan three times, but for the rest of the game, the Lions secondary could not keep up with Atlanta. Sunday’s game showed what can happened if those picks never come.

Elsewhere, the Lions offense remains a mess, and you have to wonder how healthy Matthew Stafford is going to be next week. Thankfully the bye week is just a week away, so the team can heal up before they head into the meat of their NFC North schedule.

Overall, there are still some positives to take from this game. The Lions run defense was phenomenal this weekend. Theo Riddick can make the best of defenders miss, and Jarrad Davis looks like the real deal.

If anything, Sunday taught me that there is a level Detroit still hasn’t reached yet, which is something I suspected anyway. There are fundamental issues with the team, but nothing that is completely debilitating. So, I’m feeling just a little worse on Monday.

Your turn.