DETROIT -- A smiling Derrick Barnes was among the final Detroit Lions players to leave visitor's locker room at State Farm Stadium on Sunday.
Fresh off a 45-21 win over the Arizona Cardinals, the linebacker admitted it "felt good" to enter Detroit's Week 6 bye on a high note -- especially after the team's defensive struggles early in the season.
"I'm ready to get back to it. Out there, that's us. That's who we are," Barnes said. "Obviously, we have to continue to do it week in and week out but going out there and proving ourselves right today and then having the bye week. I said, 'I'm ready to get back to football already.' That's who we can be. It's a beautiful thing."
Throughout the week, Barnes said he had received several text messages from Dan Campbell in which Detroit's head coach expressed his urgency to win and to go "whip ass" in Arizona.
The Lions entered the Cardinals game allowing a league-worst 31.8 points per game, which was their highest mark allowed through four games of a season since 2022 when they allowed 35.3 points, per ESPN Research.
But after giving up a touchdown on the Cardinals' opening drive, the defense adjusted. The Cards scored a late touchdown when the game had already been decided.
Campbell was fired up after the win, but also challenged his coaching staff to do a deep dive to find out "who are we really?"
"I think we're five [games] in now and we've continued to evolve a little bit and we're mixing some things up," Campbell said on Monday. "But, at this point now we need to figure out what we really are and what we do well."
At 3-2, Detroit enters its bye having found some much-needed momentum in Arizona. Here is a closer look at what we've learned about the Lions so far.
What have we learned about the Lions on offense?
Under new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, the Lions are averaging 32.8 points per game, which is tied with the Buffalo Bills for the most in the NFL. It's the second-most points they've scored through five games in franchise history, behind only last season (34.8 per game), but Campbell still feels they can get off to faster starts, involve wide receiver Jameson Williams more consistently, create a stronger ground attack and become more dominant as a unit overall.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff has emerged as an early MVP candidate, throwing for 1,485 yards (second-most in the league) with 12 touchdowns and zero interceptions. Star running back Jahmyr Gibbs came out of Week 5 fourth in the league with 504 rushing yards and first in scrimmage touchdowns (nine) in his new role as the predominant back, but the standards are high in Detroit.
"I think the sentiment is we have been good," Goff said after practice last week. "We've done some good things, and we've scored and had some good drives, but we haven't been great. And we're very, very capable of being great and above that. We want to be the best offense in the league, and we have to start playing like it."
What have we learned about the Lions on defense?
Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard was under fire after his unit gave up at least 30 points in three of the first four games. But the unit put up a solid performance in Arizona entering the off week. The secondary has struggled the most, allowing a league-high 1,487 passing yards through the first five games. The defensive line, however, has produced the most sacks (20) through the first five games of any season in franchise history.
Four players have at least three sacks, with edge DJ Wonnum leading the team with 5.0, followed by Aidan Hutchinson (4.0), DL Alim McNeill (3.5) and Barnes (3.0). Against Arizona, the defense committed to more man coverage which seemed to help, but also may not be the long-term the answer.
"You have to go by what opponent it is," Campbell said.
What do we still need to see from the Lions on offense?
Faster starts. Despite ending with 45 points, Detroit's offense went three-and-out on the first three drives in Arizona before scoring on its next seven.
Detroit has scored one touchdown on 13 drives that have ended in the first quarter this season (7.7%) after scoring a touchdown on 24% of their first-quarter drives last season, which tied for ninth highest in the NFL, per ESPN Research.
Goff would like to improve in that area.
"It felt like (Petzing) could call whatever he wanted and we were going to make it work," Goff said after the Cardinals win. "I think today was a good example of, like I've said, where we can go and what we are capable of. I think I said it earlier last week (but) we've been good, right? Today we were great, and there are still some things to be better at certainly, but today we were like 'OK, that's what we were capable of.' It's good to know that's our standard now and we can hold guys accountable to what we just did today."
What do we still need to see from the Lions on defense?
Improvement in the secondary. Moving forward, the Lions are anticipating the return of Pro Bowl defensive back Brian Branch, who has been sidelined since December 2025 with a torn Achilles. They were also engaged in trade talks for Joey Porter Jr., who ultimately ended up in Dallas, as part of their search to find another cornerback. ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler has suggested that Kansas City's Kristian Fulton and Pittsburgh's Jalen Ramsey could be potential targets.
Branch, who started the season on the PUP list, had his 21-day practice window opened on Oct. 7. Campbell said he won't rush Branch back on the field, but he's very close to returning.
"I told Dan, I'm starving since I got injured. Just been day by day. Just been working, just been grinding. Showing up at 7 a.m.," Branch said last week.
Branch said he's "getting the rust off now in practice. I feel good."
"I'm ready to go," Branch said.
The Lions' depleted secondary also entered the season without Pro Bowl safety Kerby Joseph and is missing safety Thomas Harper and defensive back Avonte Maddox, who are on injured reserve.