Lions' fatal flaw that will doom them in 2025 NFL Playoffs

The Lions should be the favorite to win the Super Bowl, but that does not mean they're a lock in these playoffs, because they do have one flaw.

The Detroit Lions had an incredible 2024-25 regular season. It was historic by their standards, and a 15-2 regular season with a 6-0 record against the NFC North and an 11-1 record against the rest of the NFC is nothing to scoff at.

There are organizations all across the NFL that would give up nearly anything to have that type of regular season success, and let's not pretend that the Lions haven't earned their way to this spot. If you're reading this column there's a good chance that the Lions have been thought of as a joke and considered one of the worst organizations in professional sports for most of your life.

In fact, only a two year old can claim to know a full lifetime of this dominant Lions team, and two year old's can't read — at least not at this level of highfalutin and action-packed sports writing.

Two year old's in Detroit may have been blessed to know football dominance. But everyone else has seen these Lions crawl out of the pit of despair known as the NFC North's basement thanks to an incredible head coach in Dan Campbell — who could motivate an ice cube to launch itself into the sun — and some incredibly smart pickups via the draft and free agency from General Manager Brad Holmes.

The Lions have quickly went from a joke to the most dominant team in the NFL. In fact, the Kansas City Chiefs boasted a 15-2 record themselves and they're the NFL's back-to-back Super Bowl Champions trying to pull off a historic three-peat. Still, it would be hard to bet against the Lions right now if you were to put them on a neutral field against the Chiefs.

The fun thing is we very well may be able to see that matchup in just a few short weeks in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.

That's a story for another time, though, because the Lions will have to get there first and just because you're a great team in the regular season, that doesn't guarantee Super Bowl success.

Just ask the the 2007 undefeated New England Patriots, who ended up losing in Super Bowl XLII to the New York Giants. Or how about Aaron Rodgers' 2011 Green Bay Packers team? They went 15-1 in the regular season the year after they wont he Super Bowl and got bounced in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

Being the “it' team right now in no way guarantees the Lions a Super Bowl win, or even a spot in the Super Bowl. There are hungry teams all over the NFC playoffs, after all.

They just shut down the Minnesota Vikings in Week 18 but that's still a team that can be explosive and we know they're hungry to prove themselves after that Sunday Night Football loss. The Philadelphia Eagles are the NFC's second seed and if Jalen Hurts is healthy and Saquon Barkley keeps up his historic running pace, that offense and their elite-looking defense can beat anybody in the field.

And then there's the true Wild Cards like the 10-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 10-7 Los Angeles Rams and the 12-5 Washington Commanders. All of those teams have gotten hot here at the end of the year, and Los Angeles is especially a scary opponent with the Super Bowl-winning head coach-quarterback tandem of Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford on that sideline.

Oh, and then there's the Green Bay Packers who check in as an 11-6 seven seed. It's hard to beat a team three times in one season in the NFL and Jordan Love and the Packers played the Lions tight in both of their matchups. That's not to mention Josh Jacobs running like a man possessed right now.

There's a ton of competition in the NFC, but that's not the Lions' problem. They can't control who shows up next on the schedule, but they will have to try to batten down the hatches and fix their greatest weakness heading into these playoffs.

Lions' lack of defensive depth is their fatal flaw in NFL playoffs

If there's one thing that could doom this Lions team before it even has a chance to get going in the playoffs its the lack of defensive depth.

The Lions' problems with the injury bugs this season on defense have been well documented and though star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson wants to come back for the Super Bowl, the Lions would have to get there first. Even then, that promise seems more bluster than anything.

Yes, the Lions got linebacker Alex Anzalone back against the Vikings, but heading into this Wild Card bye they're still staring at an injury list that features Hutchinson, cornerback Carlton Davis III, linebacker Derrick Barnes, cornerback Khalil Dorsey, defensive tackle Alim McNeill, linebacker Malcom Rodriguez and cornerback Emmanuel Mosley amongst others.

First-round cornerback Terrion Arnold was hurt against the Vikings and he's day-to-day with a foot contusion heading into the playoffs. Though cornerback Ennis Rakestraw Jr. has been designated to return from the IR, he hasn't played since mid-November.

That's not to say Lions' defense can't tough it out, because they proved against the Vikings that they can still play shut-down football when the moment is big. You also know Campbell won't let this unit back down no matter who is out in the Divisional Round.

Still, the blueprint for beating this Lions team was revealed by Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills in mid-December in a 48-42 win by Buffalo at Ford Field.

You're not going to be able to stop Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson's offense, but you can get the Lions in a boat race and dare their defense to try to keep up and get enough stops.

The only way to beat this team as it's currently constructed is to get into a shootout and hope that you're ultimately the better shot. There are not many other holes on Campbell's team, but that is the one fatal flaw that could doom the Lions in the playoffs.