Sunday open thread: What is the Lions’ biggest weakness?

The Detroit Lions got manhandled by the New England Patriots in the first quarter. There’s no way around it. It was an ugly performance that was extremely humbling after a promising start to the preseason from the Detroit Lions.

It doesn’t mean the Lions are doomed in 2017, or that they’re a horrible team that will never be able to hang with the NFL’s elite. It would be ridiculous to judge a team based on a single quarter in the regular season, let alone one preseason quarter. A team’s success is often reliant upon their ability to improve throughout the year, anyways. So we can pump the brakes on the doom and gloom.

That being said, Friday’s game exposed some real problems with the Lions’ roster, and there’s no use in ignoring them. So today’s Question of the Day is:

What do you think is the Lions’ biggest weakness right now?

My answer: The lack of a pass rush. Sadly, the Lions’ biggest issue is the one we all predicted would be an issue in 2017. Detroit failed to add a decent pass rusher this offseason and it appears they’re going to pay for it.

After two preseason games, It looked like the Lions may have lucked out thanks to impressive play from two undrafted rookies: Jeremiah Valoaga and Alex Barrett. However, the two have been pretty quiet in the last two preseason games.

The injury to Kerry Hyder in the preseason opener made a bad problem even worse. Against the Patriots, the Lions failed to tally a single sack, and Tom Brady was given all day to pick apart the Lions’ secondary. Despite all the additions to the Lions’ back seven, the Lions defense will continue to look vulnerable if they can’t generate a pass rush. Hopefully they’ll make a move in the next two weeks to improve the unit.

Your turn.