by Hollywood Sports
Friday, Jan 31, 2025If one could there was one play that defined the Detroit Lions under head coach Dan Campbell, it was during a possession in the fourth quarter that Tom Brady described as their most important of the season. Trailing by a 38-28 score midway through the quarter, the Lions could still pull within a field goal with a touchdown drive and force rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels to execute in what would have been a deafening madhouse at Ford Field. Given all the previous mistakes Detroit had made, their prospects looked pretty good after the big hole they dug for themselves. With a veteran quarterback with Super Bowl experience, it was time to get serious and get down to business.
Instead, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson could not resist opening up his big book of “Look at Me” trick plays and decided that it was the appropriate time to put the ball in the hands of a wide receiver to throw a pass for yet another Gotcha! gimmick play. Unfortunately, for the Lions’ faithful, Jameson Williams threw an interception that all but sealed their fate in an eventual 45-28 upset loss. Asking a wide receiver who has been suspended twice in his career — one for gambling and one for PEDs — to be the steward of the football in a passing play in the most important drive of the season, what could go wrong?
Campbell knew the play was coming. His headset was on. He could have vetoed it. Ultimately, that ill-advised play call was on him.
But Campbell didn’t veto the play, because his identity is defined by recklessness disguised as aggressiveness. He let Johnson call gimmick play after gimmick play because he thought it was sending a message. It was sending a message, albeit the wrong one.
Johnson spent the entire season calling plays as if he was auditioning for head coaching jobs. That was on full display in the Lions’ game in Chicago when he dialed up the fake fumble trick to great fanfare despite the final score not being in doubt. This is the old Daffy Duck problem when he finally decided to one-up Bugs Bunny by drinking his special TNT cocktail that allowed him to explode on stage and his soul ascent into heaven in front of an amazed crowd: sure, Daffy finally bested Bugs, but as he remarked in his skyward exit, the only problem with the trick is that he could only do it once. Why waste such a sweet trick play in a meaningless moment?
I remember Johnson’s trick play using right tackle Penei Sewell as a receiver late in the game against Dallas when the Lions were crushing the Cowboys. Another flashy play from the boy-genius! But besides the problem of wasting trick plays in blowouts, this play was executed in about 15 minutes of real time from the season-ending injury to defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. Imagine the impact to the season if asking Sewell to be a wide receiver rather than a tight end ending up in an injury by asking him to execute plays and potentially get hit in the legs by defenders in plays that he is protected from when blocking on the line? Flashy. Reckless. Irresponsible.
After Detroit’s loss in the NFC Championship Game against San Francisco, I wrote the following:
“I wondered if Campbell’s aggressiveness would end up backfiring for his team. Aggressive play-calling is a way for underdogs to overachieve expectations. It made sense for Campbell to instill confidence in his team by taking these chances. These tactics also helped protect a suspect defense that was giving up plenty of points … The surprise value of the trick has limited returns … The seeds were planted for Detroit’s historic meltdown in the NFC Championship Game … (t)he play-calling got aggressive with a failed long pass to tight end Sam LaPorta setting up a third-and-five. The Lions chose to run the ball — as if it was two-down territory despite them being in field goal range. Then on fourth and a long one-yard, quarterback Jared Goff’s pass to Josh Reynolds was dropped. Granted a 31-10 lead after scoring a potential touchdown might have been the dagger. But neutralizing the Niners' initial field goal in the second half by matching those three points would have made it a 27-10 game with half the third quarter already burned. A three-possession lead would continue to squeeze the life out of a team and a fan base that had little to cheer about. Instead, San Francisco got the stop they needed … In a matter of a few moments, a game that seemed almost out of reach was now tied. And a franchise that had never reached the Super Bowl had suddenly blown a 17-point lead … (l)osing cultures don’t flip simply because someone declares it over. Winning cultures come from winning games — and good head coaches are stewards of their players in managing games to secure victories. In this regard, Campbell failed. His decision-making was, in fact, the act of a loser — one who thought seizing a 21-point lead was necessary. He communicated to his team that taking the easier 17-point lead was not going to be enough.”
A year later, the play-calling in their first playoff game since that collapse against the 49ers was just a massive indictment that even my most cynical suspicions would never have suspected. Now both Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn have moved on to take head coaching jobs in the league. I’m not sure the loss of Johnson will be that big a deal since he was so anxious to become a head coach — as he did less than 24 hours later after the loss to the Commanders when he accepted Chicago’s offer. Johnson remarked that maximizing efficiency from the quarterback has become more important than limiting turnovers — a fascinating comment from a guy who chose to maximize quarterback efficiency by turning to a wide receiver to throw a critical fourth quarter pass. I’m not sure the offensive coaching staffs of the Philadelphia Eagles or the Kansas City Chiefs agree: The Eagles have not committed a turnover in five straight games and the Chiefs’ streak of eight straight games without turning the ball over got snapped in the AFC Championship Game with their one giveaway broke that streak. In a world where the final four teams all ranked in the top four in fourth down conversion success rates while being aggressive in their fourth down chances, perhaps turning the ball over is even more damaging since these teams are burning time off the clock which is making overall possessions scarcer and even more valuable. Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore made that exact point before the NFC Championship Game.
As for Campbell, it was a season where he seemed to focus on a revenge tour against bad teams (Dallas, San Francisco) who were out of the playoff race and too concerned about putting up regular season banners as if his Lions were a team of destiny. Ask Josh Allen about teams of destiny. Heck, ask Buffalo Bills fans over the last 30 years if teams that get heartbroken in the postseason are promised anything the next season.
As I wrote last year at this time, “perhaps Campbell will learn from his mistakes.” In hindsight, he did not successfully prepare his team to play their best football in the postseason. He also did not prepare his coaching staff and himself to coach their best games in the postseason. And now their window of opportunity to reach a Super Bowl may have just passed them by.
Best of luck — Frank.
Instead, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson could not resist opening up his big book of “Look at Me” trick plays and decided that it was the appropriate time to put the ball in the hands of a wide receiver to throw a pass for yet another Gotcha! gimmick play. Unfortunately, for the Lions’ faithful, Jameson Williams threw an interception that all but sealed their fate in an eventual 45-28 upset loss. Asking a wide receiver who has been suspended twice in his career — one for gambling and one for PEDs — to be the steward of the football in a passing play in the most important drive of the season, what could go wrong?
Campbell knew the play was coming. His headset was on. He could have vetoed it. Ultimately, that ill-advised play call was on him.
But Campbell didn’t veto the play, because his identity is defined by recklessness disguised as aggressiveness. He let Johnson call gimmick play after gimmick play because he thought it was sending a message. It was sending a message, albeit the wrong one.
Johnson spent the entire season calling plays as if he was auditioning for head coaching jobs. That was on full display in the Lions’ game in Chicago when he dialed up the fake fumble trick to great fanfare despite the final score not being in doubt. This is the old Daffy Duck problem when he finally decided to one-up Bugs Bunny by drinking his special TNT cocktail that allowed him to explode on stage and his soul ascent into heaven in front of an amazed crowd: sure, Daffy finally bested Bugs, but as he remarked in his skyward exit, the only problem with the trick is that he could only do it once. Why waste such a sweet trick play in a meaningless moment?
I remember Johnson’s trick play using right tackle Penei Sewell as a receiver late in the game against Dallas when the Lions were crushing the Cowboys. Another flashy play from the boy-genius! But besides the problem of wasting trick plays in blowouts, this play was executed in about 15 minutes of real time from the season-ending injury to defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. Imagine the impact to the season if asking Sewell to be a wide receiver rather than a tight end ending up in an injury by asking him to execute plays and potentially get hit in the legs by defenders in plays that he is protected from when blocking on the line? Flashy. Reckless. Irresponsible.
After Detroit’s loss in the NFC Championship Game against San Francisco, I wrote the following:
“I wondered if Campbell’s aggressiveness would end up backfiring for his team. Aggressive play-calling is a way for underdogs to overachieve expectations. It made sense for Campbell to instill confidence in his team by taking these chances. These tactics also helped protect a suspect defense that was giving up plenty of points … The surprise value of the trick has limited returns … The seeds were planted for Detroit’s historic meltdown in the NFC Championship Game … (t)he play-calling got aggressive with a failed long pass to tight end Sam LaPorta setting up a third-and-five. The Lions chose to run the ball — as if it was two-down territory despite them being in field goal range. Then on fourth and a long one-yard, quarterback Jared Goff’s pass to Josh Reynolds was dropped. Granted a 31-10 lead after scoring a potential touchdown might have been the dagger. But neutralizing the Niners' initial field goal in the second half by matching those three points would have made it a 27-10 game with half the third quarter already burned. A three-possession lead would continue to squeeze the life out of a team and a fan base that had little to cheer about. Instead, San Francisco got the stop they needed … In a matter of a few moments, a game that seemed almost out of reach was now tied. And a franchise that had never reached the Super Bowl had suddenly blown a 17-point lead … (l)osing cultures don’t flip simply because someone declares it over. Winning cultures come from winning games — and good head coaches are stewards of their players in managing games to secure victories. In this regard, Campbell failed. His decision-making was, in fact, the act of a loser — one who thought seizing a 21-point lead was necessary. He communicated to his team that taking the easier 17-point lead was not going to be enough.”
A year later, the play-calling in their first playoff game since that collapse against the 49ers was just a massive indictment that even my most cynical suspicions would never have suspected. Now both Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn have moved on to take head coaching jobs in the league. I’m not sure the loss of Johnson will be that big a deal since he was so anxious to become a head coach — as he did less than 24 hours later after the loss to the Commanders when he accepted Chicago’s offer. Johnson remarked that maximizing efficiency from the quarterback has become more important than limiting turnovers — a fascinating comment from a guy who chose to maximize quarterback efficiency by turning to a wide receiver to throw a critical fourth quarter pass. I’m not sure the offensive coaching staffs of the Philadelphia Eagles or the Kansas City Chiefs agree: The Eagles have not committed a turnover in five straight games and the Chiefs’ streak of eight straight games without turning the ball over got snapped in the AFC Championship Game with their one giveaway broke that streak. In a world where the final four teams all ranked in the top four in fourth down conversion success rates while being aggressive in their fourth down chances, perhaps turning the ball over is even more damaging since these teams are burning time off the clock which is making overall possessions scarcer and even more valuable. Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore made that exact point before the NFC Championship Game.
As for Campbell, it was a season where he seemed to focus on a revenge tour against bad teams (Dallas, San Francisco) who were out of the playoff race and too concerned about putting up regular season banners as if his Lions were a team of destiny. Ask Josh Allen about teams of destiny. Heck, ask Buffalo Bills fans over the last 30 years if teams that get heartbroken in the postseason are promised anything the next season.
As I wrote last year at this time, “perhaps Campbell will learn from his mistakes.” In hindsight, he did not successfully prepare his team to play their best football in the postseason. He also did not prepare his coaching staff and himself to coach their best games in the postseason. And now their window of opportunity to reach a Super Bowl may have just passed them by.
Best of luck — Frank.
