Four Detroit Lions were named to the All-Pro team this season. All of them play offense.

Sam LaPorta, Frank Ragnow, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Penei Sewell are among the best at their position in the league. But the offensive talent doesn’t stop there.

Two other offensive lineman — Taylor Decker and Jonah Jackson — are in the upper third at their position, at the least; Decker is one of the better left tackles in football. David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs may be the best running tandem and quarterback Jared Goff is having a Pro Bowl-caliber season, if you go by the numbers — or by sight.

Credit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson’s schemes and playcalling for Goff’s reascendence ... if you must; the Lions coordinator has certainly helped Goff. So have the All-Pros that protect him. But his accuracy is elite, and his decision-making is getting there.

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Yet as good as Johnson has been, he’s working with one of the best collections of NFL talent in the game. It starts up front and flows out from there.

Can we say the same of the defense?

Of course not; the Lions' talent balance weighs heavily toward offense.

This isn’t new, obviously. The All-Pro nods were just another reminder of how general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell have built this team.

But they are not done building, and you can bet when they start reworking their roster in the offseason, defense will be the focus. As it should be, clearly.

Until then, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn will do his best to manufacture pressure with a defensive line that has only one true pass rusher — healthy, that is; James Houston has been out since getting hurt in Week 2. He could play Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but it’d be silly to expect him to perform at his pre-injury level out of the gate.

Glenn will also try to manufacture pass coverage without the benefit of a lockdown corner, or linebackers that are elite in coverage. He'll blitz and he’ll mix looks and he’ll switch fronts and safeties, all in an attempt to find the one or two stops that can swing a playoff game.

He managed to do this against the Los Angeles Rams. His defense gave up 17 points in the first half — including two long touchdown receptions — but only six points in the second half.

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The Lions stopped the Rams three times in the red zone, forcing field goals. And although they didn’t force a turnover, they did enough to keep their own stalled-out offense from costing them the game.

Glenn deserves credit for the second-half toughness and halftime adjustments. He deserves credit for devising a plan to hold the Cowboys to 20 points back on Dec. 30 — half their home average.

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He deserves credit for pushing the worst defense in the league two years ago to the middle of the pack this season.

Yes, giving up explosive plays can be demoralizing. Yes, receivers are lighting up the Lions’ secondary. Yes, the Lions allow conversions on too many third-and-longs, though they often get off the field when it counts.

But in the last five games, the Lions haven’t given up more than 24 points. That was to the Vikings in Minnesota.

In the other four games?

The Lions have allowed 17, 20, 20 and 23 points.

This isn’t dominant defensive football. It’s solid football, though, and — lately — winning football. More critically, it’s timely football.

Given the lack of star talent — other than Aidan Hutchinson — and relative youth on the defensive side of the ball, Glenn is showing extreme creativity and resiliency. Not only that, his defense usually gets better in the second half.

Campbell has praised Glenn’s adjustments and overall game plans a lot lately. And while you can say, Sure, he’s his boss and he’s not objective, remember this is Campbell: He hasn’t shown a penchant for empty praise.

He believes in Glenn. And he should believe in Glenn. And judging by the interviews Glenn has lined up for vacant head coaching positions, he should believe in Glenn; we’ve seen what happens when he doesn’t believe in one of his coaches.

Glenn’s side of the ball was just as responsible for the Lions' win over Los Angeles as Johnson’s. It’s just hard to recognize because the offense is the better, more talented unit, and has been one of the NFL's best all season. The defense ... has not.

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And so, it’s easy to focus on the season-long pattern instead of on what’s happened lately. It’s also easy to focus on the missed pass interference call toward the end of the Rams game, instead of focusing on the bad luck offsides call at the end of the first half.

Had the Lions gotten the benefit of the Rams’ early jump, they might have kept the ball and scored, leaving the missed call at the end of the game to not matter so much.

Football games are like this, as you know. Playoff games even more so. Sometimes they are decided by a fortuitous bounce, or a extra few inches on a run, or a call an official did or didn’t see.

Shoot, Super Bowls have been won — or lost — by a catch with the aid of a helmet and a field goal that drifted wide or did not. What matters is whether a team and its parts can be good enough to get to the moments when fate steps in.

Because it surely does. Maybe not every game all game, but often enough. And while it’s popular to say a team makes its own luck, just as it makes its own plays, that only goes so far, too.

The Lions may have a middling defense by the numbers, merely no longer having a horrendous defense is progress. And what Glenn has accomplished this season, despite losing his second-best pass rusher and a starting cornerback at the beginning of the year, should be noted.

Four Lions earned All-Pro honors. Glenn doesn’t get to work with any of them. Consider this the next time a receiver torches the secondary for a few quarters.

And then consider why the oh-so-familiar torching hasn't generally resulted in a Lions loss.

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What Aaron Glenn does with Detroit Lions' defense can't be overlooked