Ben Johnson could be hurting his chances to be head coach
The Detroit Lions were cruising along on offense for a long time this season. A lot of that has been becasue of their explosive offense being put together by Ben Johnson. He's been really good since taking over as the Lions offensive coordinator and the expectation for much of the season is that he's going […]
The Detroit Lions were cruising along on offense for a long time this season. A lot of that has been becasue of their explosive offense being put together by Ben Johnson. He's been really good since taking over as the Lions offensive coordinator and the expectation for much of the season is that he's going to be be the most sought after head coaching candidate in the NFL this coming offseason.
That was before the last handful of games though. Since the Lions win over the Chargers, the Lions offense has been struggling a lot and has become very predictable. So predictable that its been like watching a Matt Patricia era offense.
Every time they take the field you know they're going to run first and then probably follow that up with another run before going for a play action pass right over the middle of the field. The Bears figured it out in both matchups, the Packers figured it out and the Saints did too. Clearly the media and fans have also figured it out.
The razzle dazzle is mostly gone from this offense. Johnson will draw up a play every now and again that reminds you of why he's the hot coaching candidate and why you fell in love with him. That double reverse touchdown by Jameson Williams comes to mind. But it's been happening a lot less lately. There's been a ton of conservative play calling and it's really hurting this team.
It doesn't make sense when you look at the weapons that this tea has. You have a burner like Jameson Williams and he's only targeted two to three times a game. Gibbs has been mostly removed from the pass game as well. They find a way to get Kalif Raymond or Donovan Peoples-Jones involved either. Once a defense removes Amon-Ra St. Brown from the equation, the expectation is that the Lions should be able to go anywhere else they want. But they don't and it's killing them.
I talked a little on the radio and in last weeks mailbag about how it seems that Johnson gets stuck to the gameplan a little too much. The idea being that as the game goes on and changes, Johnson just sort of sticks to whatever the plan was before the game started and never really deviates from that idea until it's too late or almost too late. That a concern because the games have been changing a lot on the Lions lately.
Aaron Glenn usually gets knocked for the adjstments thing, but he made clear adjustments in this game. Anzalone was having problems so he went with Barnes instead. The Lions also put more pressure on with a Nascar package too. the problem is that Glenn's defense got put into a position where they had to defend in their own territory three times in the second half and the Bears scored on all three of them. What can you really do when your offense has taken care of half of the opponents offense work for them already?
Johnson's sudden downfall is coinciding with some NFL teams starting to become a little more interested in the defensive mind head coach. This whole offensive guru thing isn't really working out around the NFL as of late. Defense could be king again soon.
Look, I still think that Johnson will get head coaching interviews. A few bad games in a row shouldn't affect that. What it could affect is who decides to interview him. Everyone is watching right now and it's hard not to see Johnson struggling in November and December. It's fair to wonder how that's going to affect what teams are interested and calls he'll get, or won't get for that matter.
There's still four more games and the Lions are going to go up against some tough defenses down the stretch with the Vikings and Cowboys both in the top 10 in defensive DVOA going into this week. They should likely remain at the top half of the league after this week. They do get to face the 31st ranked Broncos next week. That's a good opportunity for a turnaround. Johnson and the Lions offense really need it.
7 Takeaways from a bad Lions’ loss to the Bears
The Detroit Lions looked like they had chance to control this game and then the third quarter happened and all hell broke loose in the worst way and the Bears ran up the score. The Lions couldn't get the comeback win this time and they lose 28-13 to the Bears. As always, I have thoughts […]
