Replaced drivers side door lock handle, now key won't unlock it
 

As the title says.

The door handle works fine. If I unlock it from the inside, I can open the drivers side door.

It appears the key lock mechanism isn't pushing the metal rod down far enough to unlock. Also when I unlock from the inside, it doesn't have much "pop" to it. It's just like.. half unlocked.

When I was replacing the door lock, I noticed that the key lock bar was pretty far down. I had to tie a piece of string to it to pull it up enough. The passenger side key door lock bar extends much higher and wasn't a problem getting on.

I can't figure out why the drivers side door is sunk down so much.. maybe after partway removing the door panel it got caught on some other bar down in the door that has it pushed down lower?
That is my current guess, but I thought I'd see if anyone else has an idea before I go messing around.

The rods pretty much come straight up, so I'm actually at a loss for why the driver side rod is too short.
I replaced the passenger side one and it works fine there.

If you bent a rod it might not have enough throw to unlock the door.

Yeah.. I wound up guessing it might be bent.

It seems I've made it SLIGHTLY longer when I was pulling it up to fit back in the lock cylinder arm, but not enough.

I'm not sure where to go from here.
I think it may have always been this way since I've had it, but when it has power it power unlocks them anyway even if the arm is too short, doesn't it?

Can anyone confirm that the rod doesn't need to be connected for the power door locks to unlock the door?
I haven't replaced the battery yet, but I'm wondering if there's something else I need to be looking into or if I should deal with the driver side unlock not working when the battery is dead.