Everything has been going a bit too well for the Detroit Lions. They have only lost one game, everyone is talking up their championship chances, and they find themselves in a rare situation of having Super Bowl-or-bust expectations.
They outplayed the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field and are finding ways to win, even when that means the Chicago Bears bizarrely not using a timeout.
The Lions have also done a fantastic job of becoming a dislikeable team seemingly overnight, from Amon-Ra St. Brown walking into Lambeau with a "GreenBay Sucks" hoodie (yes, he misspelled Green Bay) to them running up the score at any opportunity.
Well, we have one reason to give them some love—specifically running back Jahmyr Gibbs. He has inadvertently helped the Packers' game plan ahead of their rematch on Thursday Night Football next week.
David Bakhtiari explains how Jahmyr Gibbs has accidentally helped the Packers
A screenshot from one of Gibbs' social media posts is going around the internet. It shows a picture of teammate Jermar Jefferson. In the background is a whiteboard of Lions terminology, including a section named "Dropback Protections."
Gibbs accidentally posting this on social media is hard to believe, and it certainly helps the Packers. Lions head coach Dan Campbell found out about it during a press conference, and he looked dejected.
"Who is that?" asked Campbell. "Oh, I didn't know that. Did not know that. OK, I need to check on that then. Did not know that. Yeah, I'd rather our stuff not be out there. Thanks."
He then left the podium.
Why does it matter? Can the Packers gain any advantage by understanding some of the codewords and terminology from the Lions' protection calls? You bet they can, and former Packers left tackle David Bakthiari explained why.
"Yikes. This is very damning," Bakhtiari posted on his X account. "Plays are pretty universal. It's the code words they assign and use at the line of scrimmage that is a problem. Going to have to completely revamp new words to assign (no-huddle code words or OTL code words)."
He then hilariously tagged the Packers' official account, as well as Matt LaFleur and Adam Stenavich, just to make sure they got the memo.
It's fascinating insight from Bakhtiari. As he notes, the plays are universal, but the terminology is secret. If the Packers know even a few of their protections, it gives the defense a heads-up. The Lions will now need to change things up, which isn't an easy task with less than a week before Green Bay visits Ford Field. It could lead to communication errors or confusion.
Maybe the Lions get it figured out. Perhaps they even change the meaning of these calls to fool the Packers, but Gibbs has given them an unnecessary headache. Instead of focusing solely on the Packers, they now need to update their protection calls.
What does it mean for Gibbs? Will he face any punishment from the Lions? We recommend a one-week benching. That would be helpful.
As I said, everything is going too well for the Lions. It's hard to believe Gibbs accidentally posted their secrets on social media. It's the kind of complacency that can set in when you are winning games for fun and have an 11-1 record.
It could play into the Packers' hands.
