Detroit is one of the youngest teams in the NFL, and with youth inevitably comes some mistakes.
The Lions started six rookies or second-year players combined Sunday against Cincinnati. Another 14 first and second-year guys played as reserves.
One of the things head coach Dan Campbell harped on after Sunday's 34-11 loss to the Bengals were all the missed assignments and penalties.
It's not just the young players making the mistakes. It's been a problem up and down the roster. Veteran defensive end Michael Brockers says there needs to be more accountability.
"For me, us being one of the younger teams in the league right now, we just need a lot more accountability," Brockers said. "That's from everybody. That's from the coaches. That's from the players. That's from everyone.
"Making sure that if your number is called, you have to be there. It's no excuses as to why you wasn't there or anything like that. We have to be there and I think that's the most important thing, just accountability from the top down."
Campbell said Monday everything was on the table in terms of finding the right buttons to push to start playing winning football, including taking a deeper dive into the roster.
"I don't want to get too far into where that'll go as far as the roster, but we're looking at that," Campbell said. "I think we're going to shake some things up a little bit."
Not being in the right spots and some of the pre-snap penalties have been real issues for the Lions through the first six weeks, and those are focus problems. Detroit's had a false start on offense three times this year on 4th and 1, and another Week 4 on a 3rd and 4.
When pressed on the play of quarterback Jared Goff after Sunday's loss to the Bengals, Campbell defended his quarterback for some of the missed assignments he's had to deal with from pass catchers.
"There's some guys that MA-ed (missed assignments) too and he's trying to make a throw with guys that are MA-ing, and so he can't even trust where the hell they're supposed to be at," Campbell said after the game Sunday.
The self-inflicted mistakes that continue to pop up are one of the reasons why the Lions sit as the only winless team in the NFL. How can a team that continually beats itself expect to beat the other team in a league with as much parity as the NFL?
"We'll improve," Brockers said. "We have a young team. We're all football players. We're all guys who played this game for a long time. We understand what we have to do, we just have to put more emphasis on it."
For Brockers, who's a 10-year veteran and team leader, that starts with everyone showing more accountability.
