Dan Campbell might have thwarted Ben Johnson and the Bears, and now Johnson could be coming for revenge
Campbell might have stolen Ben Johnson’s first choice for a new OC
The Detroit Lions will face nine new offensive coordinators in 2026. That’s just insane. One of the teams they’ll face with a new OC is the one they play twice in 2026. That’s their NFC North rivals, the Chicago Bears.
The Bears have lost their offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle, in a lateral move to the Baltimore Ravens. Ben Johnson will now be on the lookout for his new right-hand man. The problem for Johnson is that the Lions might have stolen his legitimate right-hand man.
Drew Petzing was a groomsmen in Ben Johnson’s wedding and would likely have been a prominent choice to replace Declan Doyle
Yeah, Campbell swooped right in and took Johnson’s former Boston College co-worker to be his new offensive rocket scientist. There’s a good chance Johnson would have been very high on hiring Petzing as the OC in Chicago, and if you’ve paid attention to the studies we’ve done on Petzing, you’ll notice that Petzing and Johnson are about as simpatico as you can get.
They like to run the ball the same way, they’re both aggressive in their play-calling, and both utilize tight ends in a similar way. It just would have been a perfect fit.
You might be wondering why Johnson and the Bears didn’t try to hire Petzing last year. Well, the Bears actually did interview him for their head coach job. But the fact is that Petzing was still very much locked in for the Cardinals, and an opportunity for a lateral move just didn’t seem to be there.
Now, don’t get too excited just yet. Johnson could get a measure of revenge here. There was a time when Lions’ offensive line coach and run game coordinator Hank Fraley was rumored to be Johnson’s top choice to join him in Chicago.
The Lions gave Fraley a hefty raise to stay, and that was that. Now, there’s not really a whole lot stopping Fraley from taking an interview with the Bears and maybe getting the gig. That is, unless the Lions want to throw another raise his way. I guess we’ll see what happens.