Aaron Glenn’s first year as an NFL head coach has been a tumultuous one.

The former New York Jets cornerback returned to his old franchise with a bang, drawing thunderous applause for a passionate speech at his introductory press conference. Throughout the summer, Glenn progressively won over the Jets fanbase with his promises of a new culture.

Whether it was his physical camp practices or his disciplinary actions in response to preseason penalties, Jets fans were consistently impressed with the way Glenn operated. The 53-year-old entered his head coaching debut with a high approval rating in New York.

Then, the regular season happened. Seven consecutive losses later, Glenn was no longer a popular man in the tri-state area. A couple of close wins against NFL bottom-feeders helped him save face, but as the Jets sit at 2-9 entering Week 12, Glenn still hasn’t exactly reclaimed the goodwill he once had with fans.

As Glenn’s stock dropped throughout the season, fans and analysts found all sorts of ways to poke holes in New York’s decision to hire him. One of the most common criticisms went along the lines of, “Glenn never had a good defense in Detroit, anyway,” or “Glenn just rode the success of Detroit’s offense.” Some critics even claimed that the Lions don’t miss him.

Thursday afternoon’s prime-time battle in the Motor City put those criticisms to rest.

Thanksgiving reminded Jets fans why Aaron Glenn deserves his shot as a head coach

Detroit’s latest Turkey Day loss was one of the franchise’s costliest in recent memory. Desperately needing a win over the division-rival Packers to keep pace in the heated NFC playoff race, the Lions fell short, and they are now in serious danger of missing the postseason after winning 27 games over the past two seasons.

Both sides of the ball can share blame in the Lions’ 31-24 loss to Green Bay, but the main problem? That would be the defense—and it’s not even close.

According to Pro Football Reference, the Lions’ offense generated +11.1 expected points against the Packers, indicating a positive performance. The defense, though, was responsible for -21.1 expected points, a season low.

It continues a season-long trend for the Lions: This defense isn’t nearly as good as it was under Aaron Glenn.

Compare the Lions’ 2025 rankings under coordinator Kelvin Sheppard to their 2024 rankings under Glenn:

  • 2025: 22.8 points per game allowed (16th), 37.3% third-down conversions (13th), 56.5% fourth-down conversions (14th), 63.2% red zone conversions (27th), 1.1 takeaways per game (21st),
  • 2024: 20.1 points per game allowed (7th), 32.4% third-down conversions (1st), 41.4% fourth-down conversions (2nd), 50.9% red zone conversions (7th), 1.4 takeaways per game (10th)

Keep in mind that the Lions have enjoyed a healthy Aidan Hutchinson (their best defensive player by a wide margin) for all 12 of their games this year. In 2024, Glenn had Hutchinson for just four and a half games. They’ve also gotten a full 12 games apiece out of starting linebackers Derrick Barnes and Alex Anzalone after they played a combined 13 of 34 games for Glenn last year.

Simply put, the Lions have more defensive talent than they did in 2024 (by way of significantly improved health), and yet, they are producing worse results.

That sure sounds like a downgrade in coaching.

Here’s the reality that has slowly been forgotten: Glenn did a phenomenal job with Detroit’s defense last year. He took an injury-ravaged unit within a franchise that had a historical precedent for terrible defensive play and made it one of the best units in football. After that type of year, especially as the culmination of a four-year build, he always deserved a chance to be an NFL head coach.

Yesterday afternoon’s Lions game was a nationally televised reminder that Glenn did, in fact, make an extremely positive difference within the Detroit organization, and that his coaching impact is not something that the Lions will easily replicate. Perhaps Sheppard will find his footing as a coordinator the same way Glenn did, but the results we’ve seen from Detroit to date show that Glenn was not just riding on Dan Campbell’s coattails. He was a major reason for the Lions’ rise from laughingstock to juggernaut.

Glenn has struggled as an NFL head coach so far. It’s possible that he will never be a good head coach. We don’t know; we’ll have to wait and see.

Regardless of how Glenn’s Jets tenure plays out, it doesn’t make sense to rewrite history as part of an attempt to pin Glenn’s head coaching failures on the Jets’ decision to hire him in the first place. Glenn was an excellent candidate who deserved his shot. Sometimes, great candidates don’t work out as head coaches. It happens. There are only 32 head coaching jobs in the league; everyone who lands one of these roles must be an impressive coach to get there, but by law, not all of them can be successful.

The Lions miss Aaron Glenn, and the Jets made a sound decision by hiring him. Time will tell if the sound decision leads to the intended results, but let’s stop pretending that the Jets hired someone who did not have an enticing resume. Week after week, the Lions are proving that the Jets landed one of the game’s most impactful coordinators. Whether or not that translates to success as a head coach, we’ll have to find out, but it’s pretty clear that the Jets hired a strong candidate.