Allen Park — After one game of the 2025 preseason, the Detroit Lions still have a backup quarterback problem.
In what was supposed to be a turning of the page after years of desolate play from backups, both Kyle Allen and Hendon Hooker failed to grab the brass ring in Thursday night’s 34-7 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in the Hall of Fame Game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Allen moved the ball well at times but threw two interceptions while Hooker threw for just 18 yards on six attempts and threw an interception of his own on a fourth-down heave to rookie Dominic Lovett on the Lions’ final offensive play.
And just like that, it feels like the team is back to square one with one of its most important reserve spots — one that they’ve struggled to solve (outside of a one-year stint with Teddy Bridgewater) during the Dan Campbell era.
Campbell summarized the performance of Allen and Hooker as “up and down.”
There were certainly more ups for Allen than there were for Hooker, albeit Allen’s reps came with the second team while Hooker’s came with the third team. Allen had flashes of competence, twice driving the Lions into Chargers territory before coughing up an interception.
The first Allen interception came with 5:55 left in the first quarter. After running back Craig Reynolds took Detroit to the Chargers’ 43-yard line with a pair of hard runs, Allen couldn’t get the ball to wide receiver Tom Kennedy on an out route. The pass was picked by Chargers cornerback Nikko Reed and returned to the 6-yard line of Detroit. Los Angeles scored a 2-yard rushing touchdown to go up 14-0 two plays later.
“I think he was sitting on it hard, and I left it a little inside. And on that route, you just can’t leave it inside,” Allen said. “If anything, if you see him at the last second driving on it, just miss outside, so it’s an incompletion and a punt.”
The second came after Allen made completions of 24 and 22 yards to rookie receiver Isaac TeSlaa on consecutive throws. He tried to find TeSlaa a third time on a fade route up the sideline, but sailed the throw into the waiting arms of Chargers safety Tony Jefferson.
Allen finished his day nine of 14 passing for 91 yards and two interceptions.
“The hard thing is Kyle had two bad plays, but those are two turnovers,” Campbell said. “But I thought, man, he ran the offense. He did so many good things, but it’s … hard when those are the two (bad plays).”
Hooker, who played the entire second half, took two sacks. He didn’t make any outright negative plays, but he didn’t make many positive ones, either. He completed just three passes on six attempts. Detroit trailed, 21-7, by the time Hooker entered the game.
Campbell offered a silver lining in Hooker’s performance, saying he was impressed by his ability to read the defense pre-snap and make the correct calls at the line.
“Hooker, same thing man. It was. Hooker got to a couple of good checks for us. He saw it, saw the defense, audibled on his own, which was outstanding. So that was promising,” Campbell said. “But he was up and down, too.
“And it’s hard. I mean, I don’t want to make excuses for him, but when you come in and you’re down two scores and you try to get in a rhythm, but you also — do we push it, do we not? That’s not the easiest thing for him to get a guy in a rhythm when you’re kind of where we’re at.”
The positive news for Hooker and Allen is that they still have three preseason games remaining to get their play in order. But their 2025 seasons certainly did not get off to the start either of them had hoped.
Urgency required
There are 38 days between the Hall of Fame Game and the Lions’ season opener, and all told, most of the players on the field Thursday night won’t be put in critical situations come Week 1.
But Campbell said he still wants to see more urgency from his team overall after the night’s disappointment. Every player on the field had an opportunity to improve their chances, and very few did. The major standouts — TeSlaa, cornerback Rock Ya-Sin, edge defender Ahmed Hassanein — are all presumed to be safe come cutdown day.
“We got to … apply a little pressure, in a good way. In a good way, so we get better. We gotta put some urgency on this. It is early, but it’s never too early to get better, right?” Campbell said.
Injury updates
The Lions didn’t get out of their preseason opener entirely unscathed, injury-wise. Offensive tackle Dan Skipper was spotted wearing a boot on his left foot while exiting the locker room after suffering an injury during the second quarter. The training staff examined Skipper on the sideline, and he did not return.
Tight end Kenny Yeboah suffered a lower-body injury on the final play of the third quarter. He got rolled up on a run play and did not return.
The team did not provide an injury update on either player.
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