Glenn: Late defensive stand vs. Bears ‘breeds winning’

After a porous start to the 2022 season, the Lions’ defense has stepped up the past two weeks.

It started in Week 9 against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

In the aforementioned NFC North divisional tilt, Detroit picked off the future Pro Football Hall of Fame passer three times. Safety Kerby Joseph, who had his best game as a pro, recorded two of the interceptions.

Additionally, the Lions limited Rodgers & Co. to just nine points.

Then, a week ago, Detroit came through with a dominant defensive performance in the fourth quarter against Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears.

It keyed the Lions’ comeback victory, plus the team’s first road win of the Dan Campbell era in Motown.

Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn’s unit allowed 24 points through the first three quarters, and the Lions went into the final quarter trailing the Bears, 24-10.

At the time, it didn’t look likely that Detroit was going to come from behind and pull out the win.

However, then the defense started making plays. It began with the unit forcing a turnover toward the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Lions were in dire need of a big play from the defense, and third-year cornerback Jeff Okudah delivered it. He came up with the first pick-six of his NFL career, which came as a result of Detroit applying pressure on Fields.

Then, on the final series of the game for the Bears, the Lions came up with two timely sacks. Rookie Aidan Hutchinson produced the first one, and then third-year pro Julian Okwara sacked Fields on the final play of the contest, sealing Detroit’s 31-30 comeback victory.

Glenn talked about that final play during his media session Thursday.

“Listen, that player, Fields, who I’m talking about, is a really, really good player. He caught a lot of flack last year, but man, he’s starting to really open up and be exactly who — the reason why he was drafted that high,” Glenn told reporters. “He’s a lot stronger than I think a lot of teams give him credit for and for us to just get that player down on the ground, is a credit to our guys.

“And, I think the one thing that was most rewarding is one of our players who was Julian, he had him initially, slipped off of him, (Lions linebacker) Alex (Anzalone) had him, but Julian was just relentless, as far as his pursuit to get back up and go finish the play. And, that’s everything that we talk about. And, that’s everything who we are as a defense, and you’re starting to really see that stuff really start to show up. So, that play was a pivotal play for our guys to see it, just in general overall. To just — this is how we play, and that was good to see.”

Glenn believes it was a big development for the defense to be on the field and seal the Week 10 win.

“I think the most important thing is for the players, because listen, they hear so much negativity, that it’s tough,” Glenn said. “But again, man, if you just keep yourself in this cocoon, like we have done, and just go out there and improve and continue to believe in who we are, believe in this team, believe in the defensive players that’s around. Listen, we’re young and we know that, but again, like just to get a chance to do that and to feel that, that just breeds winning.

“I’ve been a part of that. I’ve seen that happen. I’ve seen the change to where, man, once you start to do that and once guys start understanding and believing it, and understanding how to win, those things start to really propel you as a team, in general.”

The Lions will try to extend their winning streak to three games this Sunday against the New York Giants.

In the Week 11 matchup, they will do battle with another mobile signal-caller: Daniel Jones.

For Glenn, it’s all about his defense wrapping up the fourth-year passer.

“Man, it’s the nature of this league now. Everybody wants a quarterback that has a chance to make some things with — done with their legs and again, he’s not Fields, but he’s a capable, mobile quarterback,” Glenn said of Jones. “So, we just have to make sure that we’re good on these quarterback-run plays that they give him. And again, we’ve got to tackle, we’ve got to tackle.”