Five things we learned from the Lions’ 25-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday:

1. The defense has much room for improvement especially against the run. What was most surprising was the 49ers kept running it up the gut, and still the Lions couldn’t stop them. They’ve played the last three games without linebacker Justin Durant, who has a concussion, and they’ve gotten by until Sunday. In fact, Bobby Carpenter has done a good job in his place. It’s a head scratcher.

2. In the first five games the offensive line had protected Matthew Stafford pretty well except when he was sacked five times in Minnesota. He barely got touched Monday night against the Bears. Well he got sacked five times by the 49ers and hit 10 times. All sacks are not on the line, but they take pride in keeping him upright and they just didn’t do a good job. They can play better.

3. Jahvid Best can run the ball, but the Lions can’t seem to put together a good running attack week after week. Give the 49ers defense credit but they aren’t the only team that has stuffed the Lions’ rushing attack (I use that word loosely).

4. All three phases — offense, defense and special teams played poorly. Sometimes one unit can help bail out the others, but not when they’re all out of sync. Give the Lions credit, they would not use the short week (they played Monday night) as an excuse. However, it could have been a factor.

5. The feeling in the locker room was that the 49ers should have been happy, they beat a great team. This is a position the Lions haven’t found themselves in for years — it’s a big deal to other teams when they beat Detroit. Now they have to adjust to having that big bull’s-eye on their backs.

(Follow @PaulaPasche on Twitter. Get Lions news delivered directly to your phone by texting the keyword "Lions" to 22700. Msg & Data Rates May Apply. Text HELP for help. Text STOP to cancel. )